Moving Forward ... From The Shape I Am In

THE POWER OF LOVES

2011-07-10T09:41:00.002-04:00

Take a moment before reading further … and think about the people who you love.

Most of us probably thought of family members and friends with whom we really “connect”. We may have also thought of some of the folks we work with or attend church with, and maybe some of our neighbors. Maybe thoughts of folks who do nice things for us crossed our minds. And, if we were feeling especially altruistic, we might also have thought of people who are hurting in the world … those who are in poverty or in pain or even enslaved.

Those are all great … folks we should love. And most of us will say that love is a powerful thing … that it changes hearts and minds, and that it can change the world.
But, if love is so powerful, why, when we think about those we love, do we think of the folks we have reason to love and the folks we have contact with on a daily basis? And, at our kindest, we think of people who we chances are will never ever come in contact with. One must ask, too, whether that is really love or simply compassion.

In any event, this all sounds to me like we practice a lot of “safe love” … loving those either who love us back or who we will never meet.

But think about this … if the power of love is undeniable, what happens when we extend it to those who we really have no reason to love? What happens when we extend it to those who look different than us, think different than us … and even to those who might hurt us? Isn’t love a lot more powerful … a lot more exciting … a little more dangerous, when we take it outside those who love us and those whom we will never meet?

I will quickly say that my source of love comes from God. I think of God’s love for us (“For God so love the world that He gave us His only begotten son…”). I also think of Jesus’ command to love others as we love ourselves. And I think in general of Jesus’ consistently showing love even to those who many thought He could not possibly love.

But what if, for you, your source of love does not come from faith? Chances are that it comes from some sort of inner moral compass that just tells you it’s good to love others … to recognize their worth and value, and extend that feeling toward them in the form of love. And that’s okay. I don’t think that those who put their faith in God have captured the market on love … in fact, sometimes we mess up love pretty badly.

At this point, let me pose one other question: What does love really mean anyway? I kind of break it down into three areas and, interestingly, they mirror the Holy Trinity. Love, to me is:

1) The ability to gently and with utmost care and respect, speak the power of Truth into the lives of others when appropriate. This, to me, is God because He is Truth. And it’s an area that Christians often mess up … speaking Truth, or something we sometimes like to disguise as Truth, is easier done in a judgmental way than from a platform of genuine love and concern. That messes things up quickly.

2) Mercy … or call it compassion. This to me is the Holy Spirit at work in our lives … naturally knowing when we are called to do something nice for another human being, or to respond to them in a time of need. This is a powerfully visible showing of love.

3) Justice … This is the part of love I think of when I think of Jesus. He loved people, and taught us to love others, not because they were related to Him or because they had done something nice for Him. He loved others because, like Himself, they were children of God. He knew that our worth and value come inherently because God loves us … and if we’re to carry God’s love to the world, then we must be able to show that love to all others. That includes those who don’t think or look or act like ourselves … and even those who want to hurt us.

These three components of love … Truth, Mercy, and Justice … create a strange tension sometimes. In particular, creating a good combination and balance of Truth and Justice can be a real challenge for us … and something we don’t always get right the first time. But, when it comes to love, I believe we’re better off to try and fail than to never try. Jesus knew we couldn’t be perfect … he called us though to love one another.

So, what happens if we start to think of Love in terms of everyone … not just those who love us in return or those we will never meet? What if it includes getting rid of bad or unfair thoughts or words about others? What happens when love is simply something we always strive for … because everyone has just as much worth and value as we do … and because God loves them and He calls us to love all others?

This is an easy concept to nod our heads to … but an incredibly difficult one to live out with consistency. But, love does change everything … it makes minds start to understand each other, it softens hearts, it blends skin colors … if we show God’s love – our love -- to everyone and not just to those who we know will reciprocate … we will change the world.

FINDING OUR PLACE IN THE BUSY-NESS OF LIFE

2010-09-21T05:47:00.003-04:00

It's quite easy in this life to just get overwhelmed. We are constantly bombarded with demands for our time and attention. Those can be demands from our children, jobs, and spouse. Or they can be demands from today's information age which call us to always research and learn and spend time in various ways.

It's not unusual to hear folks say that they are pulled in too many directions, and that there are not enough hours in the day. It's not a good feeling and we've all experienced it. It forces us to try to do more ... to sleep less ... to take less care of ourselves. All of this in an effort to keep up with the demands of living in the 21st century.

I'm not sure there is an easy answer to any of this. Fact is, those demands will continue to be there and will even increase. Fact is, we do have certain responsibilities to family, jobs, community and our selves. Falling back on these responsibilities lessens our wholeness by making us feel guilty and, at its worse, even unfulfilled.

The key, and I am not very good at this, seems to be in prioritizing things -- getting the big rocks in first. If we don't get the big rocks into our buckets first, then the bucket fills up with sand and gravel and the important things must be left out.

But I think that, despite the importance of prioritizing, there's something more important here and that is realizing that our heavenly father loves us and yearns for us. As we seek Him and His direction on our lives, He will show us what our big rocks are -- what those things are that must be highest priority in our lives.

But, even bigger than that, He provides us our self worth. Once we know that our worth comes to us inherently and unquestioningly because the Creator of all things created us, we can begin to make sure that the things we do in this world are about helping others ... about making the world a better place. That's a whole lot different than doing things that are about making others happy.

Of course, there will be overlap between things that help others and things that make others happy but that realization and awareness that we do the things we do not because we want to serve our own egos but because we are called to carry God's love into the world -- the One who loves us calls us to share His love with the world -- things change. Our mindsets and paradigms shift when we operate in this crazy busy world from a position of doing it for ourselves to a position of being a conduit of God's love, mercy and grace.

May today we all find ourselves as that conduit -- that vessel -- that works in the world in which we're blessed to live with the calling that we're here to help and love on others.

God living in and through us changes everything.

NEGLECT OF TRADE DEFICIT THREATENS RECOVERY

2010-09-09T04:03:00.000-04:00

The following was written by Peter Morici, a professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.

Thursday, economists expect the Commerce Department to report the deficit on international trade in goods and services was $47.2 billion in July. That is lower than the $49.9 billion registered in June, because many analysts expect stagnating wages are slowing import demand.

Still too large, the trade deficit subtracted 3.4 percentage points from second quarter GDP growth, and threatens to derail an already weak U.S. recovery, throw the economy into a double dip recession, and dramatically increase unemployment.

Without the second quarter jump in imports-led by consumer goods from China and boosted by an undervalued yuan and export subsidies President Obama neglects-GDP growth would be close to 5 percent, hundreds of thousands of Americans would be finding jobs, and Democrats would be poised to retain their majorities in the House and Senate.

President Obama and Speaker Pelosi chose to ignore the undervalued yuan and other Chinese subsidies that result in an outsized trade deficit and millions of lost jobs across the industrial Midwest and South.

Instead, the President and Speaker of the House obsess about taxing the rich and social issues, and appease China on trade and the environment, as the United States sinks into an economic quagmire similar to Great Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.

Notably, Britain in 1950 was on par with Germany and France. Twenty years later, it enjoyed living standards half its continental rivals.

Each month, more and more Americans lose decent jobs, can’t find comparable employment, and then settle for lower wages, as Americans enjoy the British post-war folly of an overvalued currency and distracted leaders.

Simply, dollars that go abroad to purchase U.S. imports cannot be spent on U.S. goods and services. When those dollars do not return to purchase U.S. exports, jobs are lost and not replaced. A rising trade deficit slows growth and increases unemployment.

Free trade based on a balance between exports and imports helps nations specialize in what they do best, grow and prosper. Rising trade deficits, financed on borrowed money to cover profligate government spending, erode prosperity and compromise sovereignty.

But for the increase in the trade gap, GDP would have grown 5.2 percent, and unemployment would fall to 7.5 by early 2011, and less than 5 percent by 2013.

Oil and consumer goods from China account for nearly the entire trade deficit, and sustained economic recovery is not possible without dramatic changes in energy and trade.

President Obama’s efforts to halt offshore drilling and otherwise curtail conventional energy supplies-premised on false assumptions about the immediate potential of electric cars and alternative energy sources-threaten to make the United States even more dependent on imported oil.

Detroit can build many more attractive and efficient gasoline-powered vehicles now, and a national policy to accelerate the replacement of the existing fleet would reduce imports, spur growth and create jobs.

To keep Chinese products artificially inexpensive on U.S. store shelves and discourage U.S. exports into China, Beijing undervalues the yuan by 40 percent. It accomplishes this by printing yuan and selling those for dollars to augment the private supply of yuan and private demand for dollars. In 2009, those purchases were about $450 billion or 10 percent of China’s GDP, and about 35 percent of its exports of goods and services.

In 2010, the trade deficit with China reduces U.S. GDP by more than $400 billion or nearly three percent. Unemployment would be falling and the U.S. economy recovering more rapidly, but for the trade imbalance with China and Beijing’s protectionist policies.

In June, China indicated it will adopt a more flexible exchange rate policy, but that has not resulted in the needed realignment in exchange rates.

China recognizes President Obama is not likely to counter Chinese mercantilism with strong, effective actions; hence, it offers token gestures and cultivates political support among U.S. businesses like General Motors and Caterpillar who profit from investments in China.

President Obama should impose a tax on dollar-yuan conversions in an amount equal to China’s currency market intervention divided by its exports-in 2009 that was about 35 percent. For imports, at least, that would offset Chinese subsidies that harm U.S. businesses and workers.

Until the President tackles the root causes of the trade deficit, unemployment will remain near 10 percent and could surge much higher, and Americans face economic decline.

GOD'S KINGDOM OR MINE?

2010-09-06T07:58:00.002-04:00

My study time this morning (which, don't get me wrong, happens far too few mornings) made me think a lot about the attitude with which I approach each day ... and each person and situation I encounter. Will I approach the day with worldly thoughts of what I can get out of it for myself? Will I approach each person and situation with expectations of what they or it can do for me? Will I set myself up for ultimate frustration when things don't go my way or people don't behave as I expect?

We talk about how, as Christians, we are called to be Jesus' hands and feet. Yet Jesus came to serve not to be served. He came with a focus on others and an unequalled selflessness. His thought processes and his wishes and dreams were not of this world but of God's Kingdom.

However, when I go about my daily business, which am I really more concerned about -- this world or God's Kingdom?

It is a huge shift to be more concerned abour God's Kingdom than our own kingdom. But yet when we live with the heart and mind of God, we operate on an entirely different level. When we take a God's Kingdom approach to things, frustrations and worries of this world are overshadowed by the glory of the next.

It's hard to imagine much more of a worse end to life on earth than what Jesus went through. Yet at the end of His life, sure He was troubled, but yet I don't believe He was frustrated. He knew that ultimately the pains of this world were not what He was to be saved from -- not what we are to be saved from. But rather He was being saved to and we are being saved to something far more glorious.

When our focus is on God's Kingdom over our own earthly kingdom, our attitude shifts ... our focus goes to serving others rather than having others serve us. And when we do that, disappointments and frustrations diminish.

As the following scripture points out, when we do the right things -- when we focus on building God's Kingdom rather than advancing our own earthly-bound desire, then things change ... not just for ourselves but for all we encounter.

Isaiah 55:8-13 and 56:1 (NIV)

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."

1 This is what the LORD says:
"Maintain justice
and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
and my righteousness will soon be revealed.

HOPE, RESTORATION, and GOD'S UNCHANGING NATURE

2010-09-05T08:46:00.003-04:00

Good morning! Well, not sure how long this will last but I think I am going to take a renewed stab at this blogging thing. After taking, oh, I don't know ... pretty much about three years off, I figure I should be rested up.

I have been doing some reading through Isaiah recently. I usually try to read the whole book of Isaiah every week but I had missed a few weeks. (yeah ... right)

Anyway, what's pulled me back to it is a process we have been going through at work. We're trying to figure out what it means to be a "Kingdom Business" -- that is a business that realizes and consistently lives into the unique opportunity that God gives it to carry the message of His redemptive healing and restoring love and grace into the world.

Trying to live into that is pretty big stuff. I am sure we will mess up plenty but one way to help us strive and do our best is to keep this goal front and center. And, for me, one way to do that is to change the name of the company. Seriously. So, we have been considering options and one we're giving serious consideration to is Isaiah Industries. Our various division names would remain as they have been but they would be identified as being part of Isaiah Industries.

Why Isaiah? Because I love the message of restoration and hope that comes out particularly in the second half of his prophecy. As I look back on our company, without going into a lot of stories, restoration has been a common theme. Sometimes we miss opportunities but we consistently want to have a positive and healing impact on all whom we encounter. I think that it is part of the ongoing unique calling that God has placed on us as an organization.

In my recent look at Isaiah, I was stopped this morning by Chapter 51 ... a portion of which is below.

For me, Chapter 51 was a great reminder that no matter how small or weak we may feel as part of the body of Christ ... no matter how overwhelming this world may seem ... God is always faithful to us and we have His dynamite power. The God who parted the Red Sea ... the God who restores lives and even entire nations ... is the same God we worship today. His power, His faithfulness, His promise ... they are all unfailing and unchanging.

When we remind ourselves of this, does it not put a different perspective on our calling, our potential, and our responsibility?

1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the LORD :
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was but one,
and I blessed him and made him many.

3 The LORD will surely comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

4 "Listen to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
The law will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the nations.

5 My righteousness draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me
and wait in hope for my arm.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail.

7 "Hear me, you who know what is right,
you people who have my law in your hearts:
Do not fear the reproach of men
or be terrified by their insults.

8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment;
the worm will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last forever,
my salvation through all generations."

9 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength,
O arm of the LORD;
awake, as in days gone by,
as in generations of old.
Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,
who pierced that monster through?

10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made a road in the depths of the sea
so that the redeemed might cross over?

11 The ransomed of the LORD will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

12 "I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mortal men,
the sons of men, who are but grass,

13 that you forget the LORD your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror every day
because of the wrath of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction?
For where is the wrath of the oppressor?

14 The cowering prisoners will soon be set free;
they will not die in their dungeon,
nor will they lack bread.

15 For I am the LORD your God,
who churns up the sea so that its waves roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name.

16 I have put my words in your mouth
and covered you with the shadow of my hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.' "

GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAN THIS...

2010-09-04T08:44:00.002-04:00

My friend Ed Ball sent me this picture this morning. He took it along with others yesterday at the traveling Vietnam Wall which has been visiting Sidney when my son, Evan, and others from his school were there. The other boys in the picture are Ed's son, EJ, and also Jerrod Peterson.

How humbling it is to see these young men standing at the wall looking at names of men born about 50 years before they were born, many of whom only lived to be 6 - 10 years older than these boys are today.

While some folks may point to the cost of these lives ... and it was an enormous cost ... hopes and dreams and aspirations and abilities that were never fully realized on this earth, I look to the enormous value of these lives. How many people were portected, how was our society and the world shaped by what they did ... how many people were saved who then went on to realize their hopes and drams and aspirations and abilities?

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13, NIV)

While this scripture refers primarily to our Lord Jesus' sacrifice for us, it is also respectful of any times someone lays down their life for another. But let's keep in mind it does not mean just physical death ... laying down our lives comes also through our service to others ... through our selfless giving ... and through our sharing of God's redemptive grace and glory so that others might spend eternity with Him.

Whose life will I lay mine down for today?

PARENTHOOD

2010-06-20T09:58:00.002-04:00

Does anyone else sort of cringe when those times of year roll around that you have to buy a greeting card for a parent? Whether's it's their birthday or Mother's or Father's Day, you know that you're in for an agonizing time standing in front of the card rack at WalMart. Is anyone else like that?

I put a great deal of power in words. As a result, when I read over cards, I can be reading one which I think is perfect and then I come across one little seemingly insignificant word in it and I think "Well, this person was never that to me" or "That's not them at all" and I end up putting the card back and searching some more.

Parents aren't perfect. Some, from the child's perspective are downright lousy. Some worse than that. We can be too critical of our kids. We can try to force them to be what we wanted to be. We can be too pre-occupied with the other things of our lives -- sometimes jobs, sometimes hobbies, sometimes addictions. Sometimes we simply can't even figure out how to love our children in healthy ways. Sometimes the weight of our own lives is too much for us to bring anyone else in.

But, as a dad, I can assure everyone of one thing. Regardless of the lives we lead, that bond that a parent feels for their child is there and it is incredibly strong. It is after all modeled after the love that our heavenly Father feels for us.

I believe that, because of that bond, given what they have to work with, every parent does the best they can. One could wonder then, if the bond is there, why do parents sometimes let go? And we all sometimes let go ... whether for a lifetime, a few years, a few months or weeks or even an hour. We all sometimes let go.

But in the midst of that, even in the most extreme cases of letting go for a lifetime, even cutting themselves off from the child they love, there is a still a parent who, a couple of times a year, is pulling out the faded and worn photograph of the baby they once knew ... and wondering how things went so awry ... wondering why, in order to hopefully give their child a better future than they could give them, they had to walk away.

That is the bond that I believe all parents feel for their children.

It's a lousy analogy but Jesus felt abandoned by His father on the cross. He cried out ... but ultimately He knew that the future assigned to Him by His father was inevitable.

And so He went into the future. God didn't mess up but we earthly parents do. And as children of parents who also messed up, we have to go into the future ... knowing that our parents did the best they could with the hand life dealt them ... and knowing that we're going to mess up, too. It may be for a lifetime or for an hour ... but we're going to mess up.

But the bond is there ... Just as God holds it for us, we feel it intensely for our kids ... our parents -- regardless of how we can look at them and think "Why didn't they do this?" or "Why did they do that?" -- felt it for us ... and ultimately, even though it may not look like it or feel like it to our kids, we all do the best we can ... because we love them.

I do not mean to shortchange the life-altering pain that parents can inflict on children. I believe we've all been there. But ultimately they felt that love and that bond for us ... they just didn't have the ability to always cope with nor live into it in the best possible ways. We're no different.

ALLOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT TO FLOW

2010-04-12T05:54:00.003-04:00

Take a look at 2 Peter 1:5-11 ... here it is from The Message:

So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.So, friends, confirm God's invitation to you, his choice of you. Don't put it off; do it now. Do this, and you'll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And here it is from the NIV:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This passage speaks to that change of heart as we give our lives over to God. Our actions and reactions change as we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit flowing through us.

Yet we also know that despite this transformation of our heart, we still possess free will. The Lord may dwell in us but we through free will can stop His love and grace from flowing through us, much like turning off a water faucet.

The end of this scripture, though, is a reminder that we must strive to live into the life God intended for us ... to be that conduit ... to be that never ending flow of refreshing water complete with knowledge,self control, kindness and love.

The way I look at it, this is a spiritual discipline that requires attention ... and that we take one day at a time.

THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE

2010-03-09T07:38:00.001-05:00

The following was written by Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade:

“I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”(Galatians 2:20)

After many years of working with thousands of Christians, I am convinced that a person cannot enjoy the supernatural life – which is a believer’s heritage in Christ – apart from the proper balance between Bible study, prayer and sharing Christ with others out of the overflow of an obedient, Spirit-filled life.
We need to be able not only to experience this great adventure with Christ ourselves, but also to share this good news with others.

A word of caution and reminder is in order at this point. We become spiritual and experience power from God and become fruitful in our witness as a result of faith and faith alone.

The Bible clearly teaches that “the just shall live by faith” Romans 1:17. However, it is equally important to know that good works are the result of faith – “trusting in the Son of God” – and unless there are “good works” there is not faith, for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17).

Many Christians are confused on this point. They think of works (Bible study, prayer and other spiritual disciplines) as the means to, rather than the results of, the life of faith. They spend much time in these activities, seeking God’s favor and blessing.

They may even attempt to witness for Christ and to obey the various commands of God, thinking that by these means they will achieve supernatural living. But they remain defeated, frustrated, powerless and fruitless.

As you are filled with the Holy Spirit – “Christ living in me” – and walk in His power by faith, the Bible becomes alive, prayer becomes vital, your witness becomes effective and obedience becomes a joy.

REFLECTIONS ON THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

2010-01-28T05:32:00.001-05:00

I watched about two thirds of the president’s speech last night and then ended up switching to DVR’d American Idol with my family. I have since read the speech. It seemed really long. I also was having a tough time watching Pelosi and Biden. They were just so awkward for me to watch. Biden seemed confused and as if he was reading the teleprompter and skipped ahead and started clapping at the wrong spots. Pelosi seemed … well, yeah … unnaturally exuberant. Not sure what else to say there. It was just uncomfortable and awkward for me to watch them and because of that I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. I don’t know why exactly but I was just embarrassed for them.

The president made a lot of promises last night. It’s probably no surprise but I am bothered by that. I like less government, not more. I believe that Jesus taught us to deal with and respect those put in charge because their authority is because God allows them to have it. But yet I don’t see where Jesus ever told us to expect anything from government. He taught us to love and care for and minister to each other. So, I get suspicious when government seems to want to do for us the job that Jesus taught us to do for ourselves. I think that turns God’s Kingdom into government kingdom. That bothers me greatly so, yeah, anytime I hear what government is going to do for the people, the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Last night was no exception to that.

But regardless of whether it is a reversing of what I believe God intends, government can only do so much, and they have a history of not doing it well, in my opinion. So – those little hairs on the back of my neck? They really really stand up after a speech like last night’s.

I liked the fact that the president tried to be personable in his speech. It seemed pretty forced at times but I still liked it. I didn’t understand why it seemed like he was talking only to congress and not to the people. One can argue that it is an address to congress and that is true but the fact that it is carried by the national media does make it an address to the people. I think he missed an opportunity to make the people feel better about themselves and their future. The people have made it pretty clear lately that many, like me, just don’t believe the government can do anything to help them. It would have been great if, after last night, viewers could have woke up this morning feeling inspired and refreshed and restored … and felt led to go out and change the world. I personally got none of that last night. If some folks did, though, that’s great! Let’s spread it around!

Like I said, lots of promises were made last night. That is treading into dangerous territory for the president. I felt like some of the things he said just didn’t quite ring true last night but I’ll let the media fact checkers figure that out. They are already hard at work on it. President Obama did of course explain how much of our current problems he was saddled with when he came into office. No question about that but I hope this is the last time we hear it from him. However, when all of the promises made last night cannot be fulfilled, we will hear more about legacy and more about congress.

I hope that last night can be a start to transparency and bipartisanship from this administration. We really have yet to see much of that.

I love that the president is talking about small business but, and this isn’t just him but includes all of DC, they just don’t get what is needed. They talk about freeing up operational capital for businesses. As I have said before, for an already struggling business, that just digs the hole deeper. We need to face the reality that our nation’s businesses need to be smarter and better managed. We need to face that the world and the US economy have changed. Some businesses are prepared for that but many are not. I go back to my desire to, if anything, have the government hire our country’s independent sector management and marketing consultants to go out and help our nation’s businesses become better and stronger and help them adapt to the new reality. That is what is really needed.

These will be some of the strongest words I will use but his talk of tax credits for small businesses, while it sounded very nice, is a joke. I have heard estimates as low as something like 1% as to how many small and mid-sized businesses made money last year. And most of those that did make money didn’t make very much. Tax credits don’t do much for you if you didn’t make money. They may help your tax loss carry forward depending upon how they are structured but they don’t increase your cash position today.

I was glad to hear talk of safe nuclear energy. I personally think that is a must.
However, there was also talk of other clean renewable energy which would largely be solar and wind. Trying to base our nation’s future on that is a huge mistake. First of all, you never want all your eggs in one basket but furthermore, from a cost standpoint, these technologies don’t make sense domestically let alone to try to sell them overseas. Anything we create will be copied overseas (if others don’t flat out beat us to it) and made cheaper there. The only reason solar and wind are making some sense in the US now are the huge federal and state tax incentives and the local utility credits that are available for them. Take those away and, in a struggling economy, few of even the greenest of the green would be putting these systems in place.

Again, a big mistake to base our nation’s future on clean energy. Not saying we don’t need those technologies … just saying they will not … cannot … be the economic and manufacturing savior the government paints them to be. It will not happen. I guarantee it.

The president spoke of increasing our country’s exports. That has been a key goal for as long as I have been alive. It is a difficult if not impossible thing to do. One key to making it happen though is keeping down costs for our nation’s businesses. Despite the rhetoric, things like healthcare reform and clean air and all that … will only increase burden on our businesses, making it even harder to compete globally. However, as the president’s plan to increase exporting emerges, I will be all ears. I am anxious to hear.

So, anyway, those are my thoughts on the president’s speech. For many reasons I don’t like bigger government. For reasons I don’t fully understand, watching Biden and Pelosi just makes me squirm. I feel so embarrassed for them. The president spoke well but I personally did not find him inspiring. If anyone did fine him inspiring, I’d be curious to hear what change in your behavior he inspired?

It is the people that will lead us out of our current situation, not government. That is my belief for many reasons. So I feel the people need to be inspired. Nehemiah received permission from the authority and then went and with personal pleas inspired the people to do great work. We need a government that inspires us and resources us to inspire one another. Not a government that simply says what they are going to do for us. A government that wants to do for us indicates to me either more debt or increased taxes (which de-energize rather than energize the people), as well as bigger bureaucracy and inefficiency.

I do think small and mid-sized businesses are key to our country’s future. I think most folks both in DC and Columbus are absolutely clueless as to how to support business. I do not think renewable energy is our savior, though I support it fully. I think increasing exporting is important but nearly impossible. I think that talk of tax credits for businesses in the current economy is nothing more than a sham.

I don’t expect to sway the opinion of anyone with my thoughts … but I think it is important for us to all have thoughts and let them be heard. If you’re still reading my thoughts, I thank you. It is an honor to have your ear. I’d love to hear your reflections on not so much my thoughts (because just as I don’t expect to change your opinion if you don’t agree with me, you really can’t expect to change mine) but on the president’s speech. What did you think?

KEYS TO BUILDING GREAT CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

2010-01-18T05:42:00.001-05:00

I had a team member recently ask me for a list of how to build great customer relationships. Following is what I put together. Wish I did a better job of living these out.

Upfront contracts … at all critical junctures in the relationship, confirm, verify and if appropriate document the expectations and responsibilities of both parties. This makes them feel in CONTROL.

Ask questions … ask more than you tell, listen more than you talk. Learn and know everything you can about the other party. (Mackay 66) This makes them FEEL GOOD.

Make it personal … out of what you know about them, make your relationship as rich and intimate as possible … talk about their kids, their dogs, even their hemorrhoids if that is what they want. This makes them REMEMBER YOU.

Connect the dots … make connections between what you know about them, what their needs are, and what you can provide. This brings VALUE to them.

Confirm … at the end of each contact with them, confirm what was discussed and what the next steps are. This keeps things ON TRACK.

Always deliver … do what you promise and more. This is your INTEGRITY.

Surprise them … contact them when they don’t expect it … be on the look out for things that might be of interest to them … romance them … send them flowers. This makes them SMILE.

Engage them … warmly and with a smile, even if you’re talking on the phone. People can hear a smile. This makes them WANT YOU.

DON'T BOX YOURSELF OUT!

2009-12-22T23:40:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about boxes lately. I think it is our nature to put things in boxes. Boxes create order out of our confusion. They make us comfortable. If we’re tired of something, we close it up in its box and put it off to the side for awhile. This time of year, we use boxes to give gifts – all prepared for the recipient. In January (maybe later for some of us), we will use boxes to store away our Christmas decorations for next year. When something is closed up in a box, we don’t have to look at it, we don’t have to worry about it, and we don’t have to deal with it.

Lately I have been thinking about boxes that aren’t physical boxes but are still boxes that we use to create order and not have to worry about things. The boxes I have been thinking about are the boxes that we put people in … no, not the pine boxes that come at the end of our days but instead boxes that categorize people. We box people according to the depth of relationship we want to have with them. We have people in “closest of friends” boxes where the walls easily come down. We have people in “business associate” boxes that we deal with only when it is beneficial for us to do so. We have people in “acquaintance” boxes who we say hello to and maybe a quick “how are you doing?” but we never go deeper than that. And, for all sorts of reasons, we even have “do not touch” and “do not open – ever!” boxes that we put some people in. Those are the folks who, for whatever reason, we decide we just don’t want the discomfort of dealing with so we box them up real good – even putting a lock on the box and throwing away the key.

Yes, we put people in all types of boxes.

But, what if, in 2010, we strive to tear open all of the boxes with wild abandon -- just like an excited six-year-old does on Christmas morning? What would that mean to us? Just as the six-year-old finds exciting new adventures inside of each gift box, could we do the same when we tear open the boxes that we like to put people in?

A couple of thousand years ago, our heavenly father sent His only son because He wanted that sort of close relationship with us. He didn’t want us to be in the “on earth” box and Him to be in the “in heaven” box. He wanted us each to have a close, intimate, passionate relationship with Him. So, He tore open the box and sent us the gift of Jesus. And, while Jesus was here, He also broke open boxes. He could have spent His ministry years boxing people up. He could have created boxes for “Traitors,” “Liars,” “Thieves,” “Harlots,” “The Lame,” “The Blind,” and so many other things that would have kept others neatly arranged and separated from Himself – the Son of God. But He didn’t … because He wanted to love on each and every person He encountered. He continued that up to His dying breath here on earth as the One who sacrificed everything for everyone … out of love. And he does it today by not making boxes for “Me” or for “You”.

What would happen if, in 2010, we copy what was shown us all those years ago? What if we quit boxing people up and instead strive to engage everyone in a close relationship? How much richer will our lives be? How much will we grow? How much will we learn? How much will we spread God’s love?
Boxes cause misunderstandings. They cause fights and wars. They ruin relationships. They shield us from the wholeness and fullness which God intended for us to enjoy. We pray that, during this Christmas season, may we bask in the unboxed glory of His love for us … and may we make 2010 a year of un-boxing those around us – even when it makes us uncomfortable. Jesus didn’t come for His own comfort. Our lives are richer and fuller when we don’t dwell in our own comfort but instead when we love others just as He loves us.

LEAVE NO REGRETS

2009-12-15T05:32:00.002-05:00

The following article was written by Steve Troxel of God's Daily Word Ministries.

When my mom was forty-three years old, she developed skin cancer and died within four months of the first diagnosis. I was in my early twenties at the time and I remember forty-three seeming much older than it does now. As I approached the age of forty-three (hard to believe that's been seven years ago!) I also developed a case of the same skin cancer which took my mom's life. Fortunately, the detection and treatment of skin cancer has greatly improved and I am fine - praise God! But that event has given me reason to ponder many times over the last seven years: "What if this day was my last? Would I have any regrets?"

John the Baptist discovered the uncertainty of each moment of life as he sat in prison.

I guess they call me "John the Baptist" because I preached a message of repentance and baptized with water while pointing the way to Jesus (John 1:31-33). "The Baptist" isn't such a bad name. I could have been called "John the Wearer of Camel Hair" or "John the Eater of Locusts."

King Herod must have been mad at me for exposing his sin of marrying his brother's wife (Matthew 14:3-4). I sure wish I was back in the desert preaching, but God must have a plan for me here in prison. I think Herod actually likes me. He often listens to me talk and seems genuinely interested (Mark 6:20). It's pretty loud in the palace tonight. They must be having quite a party.

Matthew 14:6-10
"On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, 'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.' The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison."

Wow, that was fast! No time to say good-bye or write letters to my friends - no time to even gather my thoughts - just, "lean over and put your neck on the block." I sure wish I would have.....

No one knows when they will breathe their last. We may have sixty years or sixty minutes; but no matter how long we have, it will seem to pass in an instant - It amazes me how fast life passes by. The time to place our saving faith in Jesus is NOW! The time to restore relationships and encourage others with the gospel is NOW! The time to enjoy our family is NOW! And the time to praise God for His blessings and grace is absolutely NOW!!

Each of us enters this day with things we wish we could change, decisions and words which have not been honoring to God. But each of us also enters this day with the ability to begin, right this very moment, to live a life which glorifies God in all we do. Let's begin today to live fully committed to following Christ. Let's give Him our ALL and live toward an end which will leave no regrets.

HINDRANCES TO CHRIST'S RULE

2009-11-08T06:23:00.002-05:00

The following was written by Os Hillman. Really good stuff. What do I need to tgrust God with in order to break a stronghold that the world has on me, or I have on myself?

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." 2 Corinthians 10:4

The Bible says when Christ comes to live in your heart, old things are passed away, all things become new (see 2 Cor. 5:17). The Lord has put a new Spirit in us. Previously, I could not understand why so many of us who proclaimed Christ had such little impact on the kingdom of darkness. It seemed to me that our culture should be impacted much more if His children walked in the light as Jesus did. Jesus impacted His culture like no other man.

I saw many workplace believers, who proclaimed Christ, living no differently than a person who had not claimed Him as Lord. These men and women had a form of religion, but little power that reflected Christ's rule in their lives. Then one day God took me through a time of testing that led to a discovery of generational influences that impacted the way I viewed people and circumstances on a subconscious basis. I discovered this was a stronghold that had been implanted many generations earlier.

Because the stronghold operated on a subconscious level, it was not easily recognizable. Strongholds keep us from being free to reflect Christ in and through our lives because they require allegiance until they are dealt with. Strongholds can often be so hidden that we would not even identify them as evil. A stronghold of fear, control, rebellion, insecurity, idolatry, pride, or bitterness may be hidden until it is revealed through circumstances.

All strongholds are built in our lives as a result of seeking to meet one or more of seven basic needs God has created in us. Once we believe a lie that God cannot meet a need without our effort, we open our spirit to a stronghold. The more lies we believe, the more we invite these strongholds to take root in our lives. Are you ineffective in your Christian experience? Are there besetting sins that seem to recur in your life? You may find that satan has built a fortress in your heart that has been there many generations. You must ask God's forgiveness for entertaining this stronghold, and you must renounce it. Then as Christ renews your mind and heart, you will see Christ's power released in your life like never before.

MORE ON THE SCHOOL LEVY

2009-09-30T07:59:00.002-04:00

We are quickly approaching the time when once again our local school levy will be up for vote. I feel inclined to go a little bit further with some of the thoughts I posted back in August.

It’s very important whenever you are trying to market or sell anything that you really know what those to whom you are selling are thinking. If you don’t know what they are really thinking then unfortunately you end up sending them wrong messages which are often more hurtful than helpful.

Having listened to those who have been vocal against the levy, I can assure you that what they are really saying is not any of the following:

“We hate kids.”

“We hate the future.”

“We want the worst for our community.”

Again, that is NOT what they are saying. However, the overriding message they have been hearing from those who support the levy has been geared toward fighting the above statements. So, internally, what they process sounds something like “Folks for the levy think I’m a horrible person who only cares about myself.”

Um, just speaking as a guy who has spent his entire career in sales and marketing … putting this sort of thought into the heads of those you are trying to sell to … is NOT the way to get the sale.

So, that brings me to the big question … if those against the levy are NOT saying they hate kids and the community, what are they saying? And, furthermore, how do we address what they are REALLY saying?

Certainly there are many nuances and variations but generally speaking I am hearing two things from those who have been vocal against the levy. We need to look at those two things individually.

First, I am hearing “I (or my family) is barely surviving as it is. I love kids … I love my community … but I simply cannot afford to give more money in taxes to it at this time.” So, how do we answer that concern? Really, it is very simple … with love, encouragement, support and hope.

These are tough times – could not be worse times for passing a levy. Slowly and gradually, organizations are springing up to bring hope and encouragement to those who are hurting – to those without jobs, to those who have pulled back from community, and also to those who simply cannot make ends meet. The Network for Job Seekers is a good example. That group, at its core, is about strengthening individuals and families which in turn strengthens our community.

My friend, Julie, is also starting up a group to pray for our community and its citizens. There are other organizations coming along or stepping up past efforts as well … I’d like to give space to them all here but I am already running horribly long on this.

Everyone, if you’re supporting the levy, think about what you can do to reach out and bring hope to the hurting in our community. Become a “gasp” community organizer. The more we encourage and strengthen those who are hurting, the more likely it is that the levy will pass.

I have heard a lot of condemnation of some of the rural outlying communities that have put up votes largely against the levy. Reach out to those communities. They don’t hate your kids and they don’t hate the future. Organize groups to go into those communities to do nothing but encourage and empower their residents … and bring them hope. As lives are transformed, levy votes will follow. I guarantee it.

Secondly, what I am hearing from some folks opposing the levy is “The school system is a huge operation. If it were a business, it would be one of the largest around. We need the assurance that it is being run in a fiscally sound way … so that we will not be back in this same situation again in a few years with the schools coming to the “taxpayer well” because they didn’t operate in a manner that allowed them to be prepared for the future.”

The response they want to hear to this is “You know, mistakes have been made in the past. And we’re sorry about that and determined to learn from them. Here’s what we have done to not only make changes to adapt to the present situation but also to provide oversight, processes and systems that will keep us from ever gain being in this situation.”

Instead, what these individuals are hearing is “We’re having to make cuts which are hurting your kids and your community … and we’re going to continue to make those cuts until you give us more money.”

(Now, have any of these exact phrases actually been voiced – of course not! But, it is what people are “hearing” regardless of whether it has been said. Perception is reality.)

Additionally, perhaps all of us need to be more thoughtful in terms of who we encourage and support as school board candidates. If we were running the largest business in town, who would we want in charge? We need to realize that board members are elected by us and they are the ones charged with providing overall approval for school activities.

I am not criticizing those on the board. It is a difficult, time intensive, thankless job that receives far more grief than it should. I think our current board members are committed and hard working – all great, solid citizens and many – perhaps even all -- are very well shaped to be board members.

But what I am saying is that, when we encourage people to run for those board seats and when we cast our votes, we need to think about more than just the names and faces that are familiar to us. We need to ask ourselves “Do they have the proper education, training, and expertise to run an organization the size of the schools? If I owned a large business, would I want them to be running it?”

I say all of these things to be helpful. I love my community, I love kids, and I want the best for our future. I also have been blessed to know a bit about sales and marketing. If any of what I am saying rings true with you, then I challenge you to act on it -- think about organizing a group to just love on those who are hurting ... to restore their hope and confidence. Think about sitting down with board members and administrators and offering help for them to hone their messages to the public. Think about who we vote onto the school board (again, I am NOT criticizing those who are serving so hard and well now … just wanting to make sure what we stay mindful of in the future.)

SERVING OUT OF OUR GIFTS

2009-09-25T07:37:00.002-04:00

Below is something written by Charles Stanley which I received by email this morning. It made me think about serving and spiritual gifts with new eyes. And made me wonder, when are the times when I am really "in the zone" so to speak, feeling natural and at ease and serving truly out of my spiritual gifts ... and when are the times that I am "forcing it" as I serve?

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (II Corinthians 11:22-28)

Paul’s message to the Corinthians regarding his suffering is remarkable in two ways. First of all, he had obviously faced considerable torment for his faith. Second, he refused to whine or seek pity – if this was the price for passionately serving Christ, Paul was willing to pay. In our own faith walk, we can learn from the apostle’s commitment.

We serve according to God’s will, not our own. In Acts 9:6, God told Paul on the road to Damascus, “It will be told you what you must do.” We are to seek the Lord’s direction and timing instead of choosing the ministry that seems best to us. Committing to do whatever He asks requires courage, but anything less is putting limitations on our obedience.

We serve according to our gifts, not our talents. A spiritual gift is the special endowment God gives us to serve where He calls. Talents may be useful in His work, but His gifts equip us for success. Natural skill wasn’t what made Paul a powerful preacher. In fact, he spoke of the uselessness of his abilities and pedigree in comparison to knowing and serving Christ. (Philippians 3:4–9)

We serve focused on God, not on the work. Paul excelled at remaining Christ – centered, but this is where many people fall apart. We get caught up in scheduling, responsibility, and accolades, which can make us lose sight of the true purpose – reaching the needy and the lost.

Doing “church work” can stroke the ego but drain the body. If we keep focused and serve out of our gifts, service will be satisfying, even when it is hard or painful.

WE ALWAYS HURT THE ONES WE LOVE

2009-09-13T09:11:00.002-04:00

“We always hurt the ones we love.” Have you ever experienced either side of that? Have you been the one to hurt someone you really care about … or have you been hurt by the words of someone who you love?

It’s kind of an interesting concept, don’t you think? Why would we hurt the ones we love the most? How could that be? Those we probably least want to hurt … are the ones we hurt.

I think there are a lot of reasons why this old adage rings so true for all of us but, for me, the primary reason has been because I tend to be the most honest with those to whom I am closest. If I have that feeling of intimacy … and vulnerability … with someone, I tend to be more open with my thoughts. Sometimes those thoughts have a solid basis and are accurate … and other times in retrospect I later discover they were a bit off base – perhaps too “heat of the moment” – but they came out anyway in the presence of someone I loved.

And, you know what … hopefully we have all experienced this on both sides as well … the one who has been hurt, because of the love they hold … understands and comes back … sometimes even reaching out to us all the more.

I think this is the relationship that God wants to have with us. His love for us will never end … He wants us to be honest and raw with Him … and He will always be there for us.

Many folks who are trying to walk with God may make the statement “God is my best friend.” Have you ever heard anyone say that before? Or perhaps you’ve said it? In light of that statement, though, let’s ask ourselves something – “Really?” Is He really our best friend or is that just a nice “Christianese” statement to make?

Because, if He’s really our best friend, we’re going to be taking things to Him that we’d take to our best friends. We’re going to have that kind of vulnerability and that kind of raw truthfulness and honest. We’re going to talk about our fears, our anxieties, our hurts and pains, our joys and our sufferings. We’re going to talk about those things with the creator of the universe. Because He loves us and He truly wants us to be our best friend.

God create Adam and then Even in the garden to have this kind of intimacy with Him. Face it, they didn’t know a whole lot of others at the time. God had at least a 50-50 chance of being their best friend. He sought this intimacy.

Then the fall came and God became a bit more far off … only a select few really got to have that close intimacy with Him, usually in a very dramatic turn of events such as things self combusting and the earth shaking.

But it was obvious after a few thousand years that we weren’t going to “get it” in that fashion. So, God sent His son – Jesus Christ – to actually be in community with us. And, for 30 years, despite the prophecies, from all appearances, Jesus was a pretty normal guy. Yeah, he was a gifted student but those come along now and then. He lived with friends and family members just as you and I do. They thought of Him as being their friend … I’m sure that even as a child some folks didn’t care for Him … He was from all appearances … human. People had relationships with Jesus just like we have relationships with each other. I’m sure He hurt some folks along the way and some folks hurt Him . We always hurt the ones we love.

But people also shared with Him … and the Bible gives us glimpses of people sharing their hurts, their pasts, their anxieties, and their joys with Him. Just like we share them with each other. That had to have been amazing.

Think about being one of His disciples or one of the others that traveled with Jesus during His actual ministry. How powerful after He was gone from this earth for them to have been able to think “Wow … that was the son of God … and I told him all my “stuff” … He was my friend, my confidante … He laughed and He cried with me … the son of God laughed and cried with me.”

Just as we laugh and cry … sometimes hurt and are sometimes hurt by … those we love here on earth today.

Jesus was sent here to restore that intimacy … that communion … that closeness between us and God … the creator of all. When He died, the veil was torn … there was no longer to be this big chasm between ourselves and God. We were to pray direct to Him … have the Holy Spirit here to guide us and flow through us. He was sent here to change thousands of years of separation that has occurred after the fall.

But do I take advantage of it? Or do I still try to compartmentalize God? Do I still want to hide things from Him … or do I think He would not want to be bothered by my stuff?

We always hurt the ones we love … that means we are open and honest … we get stuff out in the open … we talk about our pasts … we talk about when we’ve been hurt … or when we’ve triumphed … when we’ve worried … when we’ve hurt others. That makes part of the journey of life … knowing that we have earthly friends with whom we can share those things.

And I suppose it’s easier for us to relate to sharing those things with someone we can look at eye-to-eye … with someone who can physically hold or touch us … with someone who can always speak with words we can hear and understand.

God often speaks to us in other ways … through nudges … sometimes through revelations … and some folks will tell you they have audibly heard Him. He also speaks to us through His word … the Bible … put together for us to provide us, I believe, with every answer we could ever need. And, if we get honest with Him about our stuff, He will bring us to points of experience and eventual healing … because He loves us … and He wants to know what is holding us back from fully experiencing His love.

We always hurt the ones we love … we know what that means here on earth … we’re open with and vulnerable to those with whom we share our closest intimacy. God wants that intimacy with us … He wants to be the one we love the most … that was Jesus’ greatest commandment to us. Jesus also declared in John 15 that we’re no longer slaves to God … but we are His friend … He has revealed and will continue to reveal to us everything about Himself and everything we need to know. He got very real with us … when will we be real with Him? When will we show the vulnerability to get honest with the creator of the universe to the point of where we may feel like we’re hurting One who we love? His love for us, endless, will cause our relationship to only grow through that.

MORE THAN ENOUGH

2009-09-06T09:27:00.001-04:00

The following was written by Brigette Straub ... ever wonder where life is leading and what it means to be "happy" ... what it takes to be "happy"? This is a great reminder.

"Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).

Jesus knows that we hunger and thirst for more than this world can offer. He created us this way so that we would be in constant fellowship with Him.

When Jesus saw a great multitude of 4,000 who had followed Him for three days, He did not want them to leave hungry and was moved with compassion for them. There were only "seven loaves and a few little fish." BUT, it says that they "all ate and were filled" AND afterwards, "they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left" (Matthew 15:32-38). There was more than enough! There was even some left over. This is what He wants to do for us. He moves with compassion for us. Daily, and moment by moment, we can call upon Him for more.

Jesus always had more than enough. Jesus was overflowing because He was in constant fellowship with His Heavenly Father. He said He did nothing on His own initiative, but only did what He saw His Father doing (John 14:10). We can walk through life in this same way.

Nowhere in Scripture does it say that we should be famished, full of disorder, filled with negative thoughts, and live a dreary life. Jesus says in Luke 11:13 that our Heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. It's true! Let us seek our God who lavishes His love upon us by giving us access to the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus had.

Let us be imitators of Christ Jesus. How? By the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you thirsty? Do you long for more? James 4:2 says, "You do not have because you do not ask." Call upon Him.

He hears your cry. Ask God for more of Himself today.

NETWORK FOR JOB SEEKERS

2009-08-13T10:02:00.000-04:00

Displaced workers in Ohio Upper Miami Valley area are encouraged to attend the Network for Job Seekers, a new organization formed by the Upper Miami Valley Think Tank, an organization of local Christian Businesspersons. Network meetings will be held at the Sidney-Shelby County YMCA on Thursdays from 8:30 to 10:30 AM beginning on August 20th and continuing weekly. Two short presentations, one covering job seeking techniques and one for encouragement and support through the emotional times of being unemployed, are provided each week with networking and community time included. The objective is to provide job seekers the opportunity to communicate who they are and what they are looking for in a job within a safe environment for learning and networking. The network they develop will be the single most powerful technique for finding a position. Pre-Registration is not required. Handouts from past presentations will be provided allowing anyone to join the group at anytime.

An additional component of the Network for Job Seekers, available to those who are interested, will be individual or small group career counseling and mentoring with members of the Upper Miami Valley Think Tank. These committed businesspeople are available to work with individuals who may be looking at a career change and especially to work with those who may have entrepreneurial aspirations and be interested in starting or acquiring their own business.

The Network for Job Seekers will also create a list of local job seekers and their unique skills for sharing with area employers. This will be optional for participants in the Network but it could be of great value in their employment search.

LOCAL SCHOOL LEVY FAILS ... AGAIN

2009-08-05T06:06:00.000-04:00

The proposed local school levy failed yesterday … again. I have lost track at this point of how many times the levy has failed and, no matter which way a person has voted, I think that everyone has to agree on one thing. As this situation has gone on, it has become extremely divisive in our community. The series of levy defeats has created a situation where both sides have worked to vilify the other. Those in favor of the levy say that the other side is anti-community, anti-future, and even anti-kids. Those against the levy have painted school administrators and board members as ignoramuses, challenging that they do not know how to manage an organization like a school system and that they simply want more of everyone’s money.

The attempt on both sides has continuously been to “get the vote out” in support of their opinion.

Continuing to do that, certainly, is one option. But supposedly the levy can only go up one more time before the state will step in and take over control of the local schools. Time is running out. I assume the levy will be on the ballot again in November. School officials felt that the August election would be good for them as students were home from college and hopefully would be a strong “pro-school” voting block. They will not have that in November.

Those against the levy have become more organized and solidified in their efforts over time, making their voting block stronger as well.

I know it would be a tough pill to swallow but, at this point (or even earlier), if I were a school administrator or on the school board, I’d want to pursue some other options. At some point, the reality would need to sink in and be recognized that the majority of the voting public simply wasn’t going my way … and that maybe I need to change my tack a bit.

I suppose that could look like a number of different things but one would be to begin a series of small group meetings with local citizens including civic and business leaders but to especially try to reach out to those who have been voting against the levy and engage them in conversation. Sometimes, I believe, as much as anything, folks just want the assurance that they have been heard and that those who have heard them are listening.

At this point, as the division continues, each side begins to forget that the other side consists of human beings. They begin to see the other side only as the “enemy” … and that creates a situation in which it is very difficult for any positive shifting, one way or the other, to occur.

A series of many, intensive, small group meetings, facilitated by a neutral third party, could create productive conversation which begins to remove the boxes that each side has put itself in. The individuals can begin to once again see each other as people … and hopefully begin to better understand each other. As this happens, I believe that both sides will begin to see how many they can “give” a little. School officials will perhaps pick up and act on some helpful ideas and those against the levy will know that they have been heard.

I believe that this would begin the healing process that our community desperately needs … and it would bring people closer together and allow the levy to easily pass in November.

MORE ON HEALTHCARE REFORM

2009-08-03T08:32:00.000-04:00

It seems like there are three primary things driving healthcare reform:

1) Cost control
2) Ensuring coverage for everyone, including portability and continuation of existing plans
3) More control in the hands of patients and physicians

As a side note, I will add my observation that pharmaceutical and research companies are currently rewarded only when they have the “big hit” of a discovery that has widespread appeal and use, such as something like Viagra and, apparently, something to help folks have fuller eyelashes.

The projections for healthcare as it is are ominous – costs will continue to rise. Along the way, insurance companies will continue to look for ways to cap their costs as well and sometimes that means limiting what and who they will cover.

As I look at this, it all comes down to costs. If costs can be controlled, more folks can have coverage and more power can return to patients and their doctors. And yet I see cost containment as conspicuously missing in the proposed reform. I will be the first to admit that I must be missing something though – and I hope that someone can point out to me what I am missing. Where is cost containment in the proposed reform?

I know that part of what is proposed is some way of increasing competition amongst insurance companies. The problem is, competition already exists and, if you increase competition too much, none of them make money, insurers start to pull out, and now you have decreased competition and an environment where costs can really begin to spiral. Simple economics.

I also have heard talk of trying to help smaller insurance buyers tap into larger group ratings. The money still has to come from someplace though so this just doesn’t make sense to me.

It still comes down to controlling costs.

I am not sure what our options are for controlling costs. Tort reform seems like a logical one but it has been talked about for almost 30 years now and the muckity mucks in DC are still too tied to attorneys to do anything about it. The time has come that something must be done now.

The other thing I see is let’s get the advertising out of the pharmaceutical business. Advertising pharmaceuticals just adds cost and encourages drug companies to only work on drugs that will be big widespread hits. Let’s eliminate advertising and encourage that some of our best research be done by smaller companies and (can’t believe I am saying it) government research facilities.

I don’t need to see advertisements on TV that make me think I need the latest drug out there. Let my doctor know and prescribe what is best for me. My doctor knows far better than I and the Madison Street bigwigs do.

Healthcare reform is not really reform if all we do is switch around where the dollars come from. Long term cost containment will not occur that way. Costs will keep spiralling out of control. Let’s instead look for ways of controlling costs and out of that create a system which works for all.

Other ideas?

JAMES 2:1-13 (NIV)

2009-08-02T16:09:00.002-04:00

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

The idea of loving one another was apparently radical in Jesus' day. Just as it is radical today. It's always been radical. Radical because it's difficult. It goes against our nature.

It's a tough thing to do. We don't all look alike, act alike, think alike, or even smell alike. Something about us wants to judge others by what we observe on the surface. We think mean thoughts ... we sometimes say them. Or we simply show favoritism or maybe, even ever so slightly, put ourselves ahead of others.

But yet in this scripture, we can see just how critical this commandment of Jesus' had been passed along to be. The one who doesn't love his neighbor -- all his neighbors -- as himself ... is no better than the murderer or the adulterer.

Think about it. That is a tough pill to swallow. How can I live a life so pure that I never judge others? Is that even feasible?

This is big stuff ... not something we can just say "Well, God's grace covers us" and move on. Yes, His grace does cover us ... but this idea of loving others is truly world-changing.

What does it take in ourselves to be able to live this way? For one thing, we have to feel good about ourselves. Oftentimes, judging others is our way of felling better about ourselves.

Yet this is a self-fulfilling circle ... if I love others ... if I encourage and affrim them ... then they feel better about themselves ... and become more likely to love others.

It's a beautiful idea ...

But human nature holds us back.

Love one another -- all others -- as ourselves ...

How do you live it out? How do I live it out?

Would God's Kingdom come if we all lived it out?

THE DOOR OF FULL SURRENDER

2009-08-02T08:38:00.001-04:00

The following was written by Os Hillman. What does full surrender look like for me ... for you?

"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job 23:10

I was recently sitting with the leader of a workplace organization as he described a question he poses to workplace believers. "What if there were two doors to choose from; behind one door was the complete will of God for your life and behind the other door was how life could be according to your own preference. Which door would you choose?" The struggle for most lies in the desire to follow God completely and the fear of what might be behind the door of full surrender. Most of us desire to follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost. We do not really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are willing to give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us.

If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may give intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do fine; however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for our life, it will be a life that will have adversity. The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal.

If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can expect your trials to be even greater than those of others. Why? Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than most patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that God cannot afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness to the call. He has much invested in you on behalf of others. He may want to speak through your life to a greater degree than through another. The events of your life would become the frame for the message He wants to speak through you.

Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For God may bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward of your inheritance. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17)

LETTER TO THE GOOD FOLKS AT LAUGHING COW CHEESE COMPANY

2009-07-29T12:33:00.001-04:00

I just sent the following letter to the Laughing Cow Cheese company. I will let you know if I get a response.

I have heard that the reason your cheese is so soft is that once you have the cows laughing the milk comes out their noses and that that passage of milk softens it. Is this true? If so, I am concerned about the cleanliness of this process and am also concerned about possible negative ramifications on the cows' respiratory systems. Please advise.

On the other hand, I have a pet dachsund that has seemed rather blue the past few years. Can you give me advice on how to get her to laugh please?

Thank you.

HEALTHCARE BILL

2009-07-28T16:15:00.002-04:00

I had a friend send me the following list of things supposedly in the healthcare bill. I do not know if this is the Senate or House version. I also don't know if there is even one iota of truth to this list. At the very least, it was put together by someone who had their own agenda to push.

In any event, this does make it clear to me that I need to learn more about what's really in this thing. Doesn't it make you feel that way too? The problem is that, at the very root of it all, I feel powerless.

• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t' have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
• Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

WORK TO PLEASE GOD, NOT PEOPLE

2009-07-28T11:29:00.001-04:00

The following was written by Rick Warren.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people" Colossians 3:23, TEV)

The apostle Paul teaches that we are to work as though we are "working for the Lord and not for people." He's saying that no job is too small; no job is too menial; no job is too insignificant when you have the right motive and perspective. We should think, "I'm doing it for God; I'm doing this job as if I'm doing it for the Lord." I used to clean meat lockers in a butcher shop, and I would clean them as unto the Lord.

Now, how do I know if I'm doing my work for the Lord? Two characteristics will show up in your attitude: excellence and enthusiasm.

First, if I'm doing my work, not for the boss but for the Lord, I'll do it with excellence. That means I give it my best shot. I do the best I can because I'm not doing it for anyone's approval, except God's. I do it with excellence, being the best I can be.

Second, I do my work with enthusiasm. I'm working for God; therefore, I do it with a cheerful attitude. "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically" (Romans 12:11, NLT).

When you are working with all your heart, motivated by the love of Christ, your work is transformed into an act of worship for God.

MY THOUGHTS ON HEALTHCARE

2009-07-28T05:13:00.001-04:00

In discussing my thoughts on healthcare, I think it’s important for me to give a little background on where I come from on this subject. My business directly employs about 55 people. Some of those team members are on our insurance plan for families, some for singles, and a few, at their choosing, are not on it at all. I do not have exact figures at my fingertips but the cost of health insurance for those 55 people and their families is around $500,000 annually. Of that amount, team members are paying around $100,000 and the company pays the balance.

Is it fun paying that amount for health insurance every year? No, it really isn’t. But I am okay with it because ultimately I know that it allows our team members and their families to be protected by the best healthcare professionals that this world has ever known. I like that a lot and, yes, my own family has benefitted greatly from it as well.

Ultimately, of course, the price that my company pays for health insurance is borne by our customers. There is no magic kitty from which those funds can come. And, when our health insurance costs increase, it means we have to increase our prices. So do our competitors and everyone else … and that fuels inflation. Of course, no one likes inflation but that is part of the game in which we play.

There’s an old axiom in business that starts with there being three basic ways an organization can provide goods or services that are attractive to customers. Those three possibilities are: 1) High Quality; 2) Fast; and 3) Low Cost. The axiom is that an organization can never fulfill more than two of those three things when providing their good or service. Most successful companies meet two of those criteria. Less successful companies tend to only meet one or sometimes even none.

In other words, consumers can buy things one of these ways:

A) High Quality and Fast, but not Cheap
B) Fast and Cheap but not High Quality
C) Cheap and High Quality but not Fast

For all my life, our country has benefitted from a healthcare system that generally was A) above – High Quality and Fast but not Cheap.

It’s nice to think that we could have a system that was High Quality, Fast, and Low Cost but, time and again, that combination of things has proven impossible for any good or service of any type.

On a subject like healthcare, given the three possible combinations, I think we will all agree that High Quality and Fast is the most desirable.

So, if we want to change something about healthcare, is it safe to say that we want to keep it High Quality and Fast? Doing so means it won’t be cheap.

So, if it can’t possibly be made to be cheap, the question is this: Can the government make it less “not cheap” than it is today? Regardless of which side of the political fence you fall on, or even if you often find yourself straddling the fence, I think we will all agree that government’s track record of making things less “not cheap” is not good … as in the two pretty much can’t go together.

So, that brings me to what I think is the real question that our government needs to examine as it looks at healthcare – what really is wrong with they system we have now?

The answer to that is simple – healthcare is expensive and some folks can afford neither care nor insurance. But we’ve already established that we don’t want to give up on High Quality and Fast … and that Cheap is not possible in conjunction with those things. See the issue? Our healthcare system today is exactly where free enterprise puts it. Are there things that could be tweaked? Absolutely … but is there really any hope that a major overhaul can improve things? I for one don’t see how.

So, what do we do about folks who can’t afford healthcare or insurance? Well, fact is, hospitals and health practitioners already give millions and millions of dollars of free services each year to those without health insurance. Hospitals pay for that in three ways: 1) Increased billings; 2) Donations; and 3) Income from foundations. The mounting problem now is that hospitals are facing more demand than ever before for free healthcare, due to unemployment being high. And also, they are experiencing a decline in charitable giving as well as in interest receipts from their foundation investments.

Not a good situation.

In my opinion, that is the situation that really needs to be addressed. Keep our healthcare Fast and High Quality … and build a system that better allows healthcare practitioners and hospitals to provide free services to folks based upon need.

Obviously, I can be a bit biased and simplistic but the answer to all of that in my book is that government needs to support and further businesses – “Main Street” in particular. Ultimately, that is the only way the system works well. Any other approach and you can bet that “Fast” or “High Quality” or perhaps even both will be lost and my money is on the guess that they will not be replaced by “Low Cost” either.

JAMES 1 (MSG)

2009-07-12T07:43:00.001-04:00

Can't think of better guidance for the day ... for my life ... than this.

Faith under pressure
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

Act on What You Hear
Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS

2009-07-11T09:20:00.001-04:00

Here's a great article by Rick Warren.

"Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:14 (TEV)

You can't earn your spiritual gifts or deserve them - that's why they are called gifts! They're an expression of God's grace to you: "Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us" (Ephesians 4:7, CEV).

Nor do you get to choose which gifts you'd like to have. Paul explains that God determines that, "It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have." (1 Corinthians 12:11, NLT)

Because God loves variety, and he wants us to be special, there's no one single gift given to everyone, and no individual receives all the gifts. If you had them all, you'd have no need of anyone else, and that would defeat one of God's purposes - to teach us to depend on each other.

Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit. The Bible says, "A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church" (1 Corinthians 12:7, NLT). When we use our gifts together, we all benefit. If others don't use their gifts, you get cheated, but if you don't use your gifts, they get cheated. This is why God wants us to discover and develop our spiritual gifts.

Whenever we forget these basic truths about gifts, it always causes trouble in the church. Two common problems are "gift-envy" and "gift-projection."

* Gift-envy occurs when we compare our gifts to others, feel dissatisfied with what God gave us, and become resentful or jealous of how God uses others.

* Gift-projection happens when you expect everyone else to have your gifts, do what you're called to do, and feel as passionate about it as you do. The Bible says, "There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving." (1 Corinthians 12:5, NLT)

Sometimes spiritual gifts are overemphasized to the neglect of the other factors that God uses to shape you for service. So keep in mind, your gifts reveal one part of God's will for your ministry, but not all of it.

LIFE LESSONS IN FLYING

2009-07-11T08:08:00.003-04:00

“Do you have any fears about flying in a small plane?” my friend Mike asked me as he was opening up the hangar door and preparing to ready his plane for flight.

I smiled and said “No, I don’t … but, tell me, how are you feeling today because I sure don’t want to have to figure out how to fly this once we’re up there!” I’d forgotten to bring along my “Piloting For Dummies” book.

Mike laughed. “That’s a good question,” he said. “Most people don’t think of that.” He assured me he was feeling fine.

Fact is, I’d flown in four and six seat private planes a few times before as well as had countless flights in small commuters. And, shy of the time Lisa and I took a small tourist flight over the Grand Canyon and it started snowing while we were ascending, I really had never experienced fear from flying in a small plane. (Ask me sometime about my very scary flight in a larger plane over the Alps though!)

I’ve always wanted to get a pilot’s license, in fact, but at this point it would totally freak out my life insurance agent so I’ve pretty much put that dream to the side.

Anyway, it was a real neat opportunity when Mike asked me early this week if I wanted to fly up to Toledo with him on Thursday morning to look at some equipment. It was pretty exciting for me to ride in the right hand seat and get to wear the big bulky headphones. I felt like a little kid – tried my best to contain my excitement but it was a very cool experience.

“Beautiful day for flying,” Mike said across his headset as we headed toward the runway of the local airport. And it was beautiful. Not too warm but sunny and not a cloud in the sky.

I watched him as he walked around his plane. He checked the oil and some other obvious things but I could clearly tell that he had a keen eye for making sure the plane was safe and flight ready.

Then we climbed in. He reminded me to not step on the flap and assured me that I didn’t need to touch anything – that he would have it all under control. He plugged into the plane’s controls our destination so that it would determine the best flight path.

Shortly after we gained some altitude, I could see both Grand Lake and Indian Lake to the north of Sidney. I was amazed how quickly and clearly they came into view. You enjoy a perspective in a small plane flying at a lower altitude that you don’t get in a big plane at 30,000 feet or whatever. From a lower altitude, you can see details but your horizon stretches for miles and miles.

One thing I’ve noticed before in planes is that, as you gain altitude and look out the front window, you can’t see over the dash. That is sort of an odd feeling to someone who wants to try to equate flying a plane to driving a car. In a car, you can see over the dash pretty well. But I realized from the perspective of the front seat as we went up that there was no reason for me to look over the dash – the plane pointed my vision at exactly where we were going – up up and away if you will – and that was where I needed to focus. There was no reason for me to look below us or see where we’d been. I needed to look at where we were going.

After we landed at Toledo, a gentleman from the airport came out to meet us. Mike wanted him to help tell him where to park but the gentleman wasn’t being overly cooperative. Not getting any direction from him, Mike eventually had to make the call himself and park where he though the plane would be fine and not in the way of anyone.

We walked up to the terminal and, while Mike took care of the things he needed to take care of with the airport people, I looked at a cabinet where they had various flying-related things for sale. Included in the cabinet were air sickness bags, aka “barf bags”. There’s too much eight year old boy in me still to not have laughed at that a bit. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could get airsick in the smooth and beautiful flight that my friend had just taken me on. But I suppose it happens – one should be prepared.

We went from there to look at the equipment and then we went back to the airport for the flight home. I marveled at Mike as he flew the plane. He was constantly watching gauges, running his fingers over them to verify that he’d checked them. Even tapping on them to make sure they weren’t stuck and giving a false reading. A bad reading on the gauge could indicate a problem that needed to be corrected.

We had a great flight home. As we ascended, we approached some big fluffy clouds. I was wondering if we’d experience turbulence if we went through them but Mike instead guided the plane over and around the clouds. As I looked down, I saw a patchwork of beauty unfold. Green fields of growing crops. Amber fields of wheat. Brown fields that weren’t being planted this year. Wooded areas and their multitude shades of green. People’s houses, driveways, roads, swimming pools. It was all beautiful – again from our not-too-high perspective.

It was indeed a beautiful day for flying and I am grateful to Mike for asking me to go along. There could not have been a better way to spend a morning.

As I have reflected back on Thursday morning, I realized that my plane ride included some great lessons on life …

1) Always keep a close eye on things … make sure that you’re in good running condition.

2) Watch your gauges carefully – those things that tell you when you’re off course. Even tap on them occasionally to make sure that they aren’t giving you a false “good” reading and making you think you’re on track while you’re not. Sin has a way of deceiving us into thinking it’s okay.

3) Just like I had to give up control to Mike who knows how to fly planes and I don’t, we need to give up control to God. He knows the real pathway. We mess things up when we try to control them ourselves.

4) Don’t fly too high. Fly high enough for a good perspective but not so high that you lose track of details nor that you can only see yourself.

5) Know in general terms where you’re going … plug in the coordinates and God will work out the details of the exact flight path.

6) Look to others for leadership when appropriate but, if they aren’t providing it, step up to the plate just as Mike did in deciding on his own where to park the plane.

7) Keep your eyes and attention focused on where you’re going, not where you’ve been.

8) Be flexible to steer around clouds when you can but realize that ultimately you’re following God and you may need to go through the clouds on occasion. Bring along a barf bag just in case.

9) Look around and enjoy God’s beauty. He has provided it to us for sustenance, inspiration, and enjoyment. Bask in it.

10) And never turn down Mike if he asks me to go flying again sometime.

CHECKING OUT MY OWN CART

2009-07-06T20:27:00.000-04:00

Surely I’m not the only person who has ever glanced into the cart of the person in front of them in the checkout line at the grocery store. Am I?

You can often tell a lot about what’s going on in the lives of people by observing their groceries. You can tell when there is going to be a birthday celebration … or a fancy dinner party … or a cook out. You can tell when a group of 20-year old guys are hoping for a weekend of R & R.

Tonight I glanced into the cart of the young guy in front of me. I couldn’t help but notice that he had an odd assortment of things in his cart. I couldn’t really pick up on a theme to the things he had. At first I thought he must be a bachelor … so I checked and ruled that out because he had a wedding ring. I do not remember everything in his cart except I do remember generic Raisin Bran, frozen vegetables, and milk. And two other things. He had a huge number of individual serving cups of vanilla pudding. I mean like probably 30 cups of vanilla pudding. I imagined that he had an expectant wife at home who was craving vanilla pudding and he was determined to feed that craving. He also had a huge amount of toilet paper. There is too much 8-year-old boy in me to not chuckle whenever I see someone buying large amounts of toilet paper at the store.

As I chuckled to myself about the toilet paper, I sort of grimaced and nodded, acknowledging that he did indeed have an odd assortment of things in his cart …

And then I looked into my cart.

What made perfect sense to me in my own cart would have looked positively schizophrenic to a stranger.

… and so it is with life. Everyone else’s cart looks like a confused jumble … until we look at our own. And then we remember that we ain’t so perfect either.

I’m glad that our Savior loves me and even desires me no matter what stuff is in my cart. My cart is full of weird habits, oddities, quirks, crazy antics, and areas where I just simply need to grow … a lot. But He loves me anyway.

I’m trying to learn to not judge others by their carts. The concept of Christian community calls us to be willing to share our carts with each other but the only way someone will share their cart is if they trust you to not judge them by their cart.

I want to be someone who can be trusted to not judge people by their carts … because God doesn’t judge me by mine.

One book that I have read which has influenced me in this area is “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” by Philip Yancey. I’d highly encourage it if not judging others by their carts is a growth area for you the way it is for me.

CHANGE IN MINDSET

2009-07-02T08:45:00.001-04:00

The following was written by John Fischer and is a devotional I received in email today. It was the second time already today that I have been challenged with the idea of the change of mindset and attitude that occurs when the Holy Spirit is really manifest in oneself. I didn't think I could ignore it since it was the second time today. God is trying to point something out to me; I hope I can figure it out.

One of the prerequisites for being a servant of God is to think like a servant. This would be fine if it wasn't so impossible. We are all naturally wired to think only of ourselves.

Learning to give preference to others is one of the true marks of a Christian because it is so contrary to human nature. That's why desiring it comes from God, and doing it comes through the Holy Spirit.

Paul said of Timothy: "I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares for your welfare. All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ" (Philippians 2:20-21, NLT).

Hidden in these verses is the secret to making an attitude of servanthood become a part of your thinking. It starts with Jesus. When you fall in love with Jesus, you focus on Him and worship Him. As you do this, you find out about Him?you get to know Him as you would a friend?and soon you come to know what matters to Him, until finally, you start to realize that what matters to Him, matters to you. This is not just a factor of familiarity, either. There is a supernatural element at work here as well. What matters to Jesus connects with the Holy Spirit in you, and the Spirit answers from deep inside you to the call of truth.

Other people mattered deeply to Jesus. He could read their hurt and pain. Scripture says He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Well where did that grief and sorrow come from if it didn't come from the suffering of people around Him? In other words, He was carrying their grief. He was empathizing with their sorrow. Once a woman touched him in a desperate need to be healed, and He could feel the compassionate power go from Him even though He didn't see who touched Him in the press of the crowd. He was that sensitive to the needs of those around Him.

Now truly, thinking like a servant doesn't automatically make you one, but it goes a long way toward getting you there. If you are thinking like a servant, you are noticing others; and the more you are aware of others, the more the Holy Spirit can use you in reaching out to them. All this increases the opportunity for the gospel. People are simply not used to being served.

Take it from me, a guy who is not by any stretch servant material, it's actually a relief to get off my most popular subject?me?and on to someone else. Ask God to help you think like a servant today, and I'm certain you'll get a chance to be one.

LIVING FOR A GREATER CAUSE

2009-07-02T05:50:00.001-04:00

The following was written by Os Hillman. It speaks well to the concept of workplace ministry.

"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

What does it mean for workplace believers to live for a cause greater than themselves in our day and time? Jeremiah Lanphier was a businessman in New York City who asked God to do this in his life in 1857.

In a small, darkened room, in the back of one of New York City's lesser churches, a man prayed alone. His request of God was simple, but earth-shattering: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" [John Woodbridge, ed., More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 337]

He was a man approaching midlife without a wife or family, but he had financial means. He made a decision to reject the "success syndrome" that drove the city's businessmen and bankers. God used this businessman to turn New York City's commercial empire on its head. He began a businessmen's prayer meeting on September 23, 1857. The meetings began slowly, but within a few months 20 noonday meetings were convening daily throughout the city. The New York Tribune and the New York Herald issued articles of revival. It had become the city's biggest news. Now a full-fledged revival, it moved outside New York. By spring of 1858, 2,000 met daily in Chicago's Metropolitan Theatre, and in Philadelphia the meetings mushroomed into a four-month long tent meeting. Meetings were held in Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, Chicago, New Orleans, and Mobile. Thousands met to pray because one man stepped out. Annus Mirabilis, the year of national revival, had begun.

This was an extraordinary move of God through one man. It was unique because the movement was lead by businessmen, a group long considered the least prone to any form of evangelical fervor, and it had started on Wall Street, the most unlikely of all places to begin.

Could God do something extraordinary through you? Take a step. Ask God to do mighty things through you.

WHO NEEDS MONEY WHEN YOU HAVE DYNAMITE!

2009-07-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

The last few months have been interesting, wouldn’t we all agree? You know what really strikes me though? The number of people I keep running into who are re-focusing their lives from themselves to others. That is exciting stuff.

And, because it is where I primarily operate, I am seeing this in the business world but I have to think it exists in other circles as well.

Increasingly, I am finding myself meeting with people who think big – people who want to change lives, change communities, change the world and build the new Kingdom. Again, exciting stuff!

But then I start to think about money – how will things be funded? And that tends to stymie some of my thinking at least. It tends to put ideas from the “Let’s get going!” mindset to the “Someday something will happen and we will have the resources to do that” mindset.

But I was thinking yesterday and reminded myself just how wrong that is to take something that is from and of God and reduce it to a question of resources. Acts 1:8 says “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” In the original text, the word “dunamis” was used for “power”. And, in Greek, “dunamis” translates to “dynamite”. No lack of resources can overshadow the presence of dynamite!

Hopefully you’re seeing the same thing I am seeing with people re-focusing their lives on others and on God’s Kingdom. Let’s, all of us, remember that the lack of resources is not something to hold us back. When the Spirit is there, it brings dynamite power. And that is all that is needed.

With God’s dynamite power, we can indeed change lives and communities and the world. We can do exactly what God calls us to do – prepare His Kingdom.

BURNING FIRE

2009-06-30T05:54:00.002-04:00

It's been basically a year since I was in Tijuana on a trip to learn about the human trafficking situation there. At this point, another group is there for a similar educational trip.

It was pretty heavy stuff that we learned. Our hearts were broken and we came back with fire in the belly to learn more and to help. Some plans have been laid and, to large degree, it is up to God's timing at this point but, on the other hand, we have undoubtedly let up some in our push to make things happen. That is partly because the fire in our bellies has died down a bit ... or been overtaken by other fires including just the reality of doing life today.

But it's also, I think, because we have come to better understand the complexity of the situation and all of the factors that drive it. We have come to understand that you cannot just band-aid the situation by addressing the wounds. You must also work on addressing the knife that keeps cutting deeper and deeper and deeper.

Tough stuff it is indeed. But there are people all over the world who are caught up in abusive situations over which they have no power. Some of those are human trafficking situations and some are other equally devastating but different situations.

Please join me today in praying for God's justice for those whom he loves so much. Pray, too, that we will develop the burning fire to make a difference to these situations and that God will show each of us the role he'd like us to play.

TURNING IT ALL OVER

2009-06-29T06:04:00.003-04:00

Many people who know me will also know her but I have a friend who collects frogs. She likes frogs because of their acronym -- Fully Rely On God. A cancer survivor, she has "been there" ... she undoubtedly has felt that brokenness when God was all she had.

And it's a nice saying, isn't it -- Fully Rely On God? Look to God for your every move. It's a nice thought and, really, I have seen people who at least from all appearances seem to do a decent job of living out that idea. But I wonder how many of us really reach that point in our lives. I know that I still struggle for control ... struggle to make my own decisions, make my own way.

There is, I think, less courage involved in trying to do things on our own rather than with complete reliance on God. The outcome probably won't be as good, and certainly won't accomplish God's wishes, but there is less courage involved.

I received the following email from Os Hillman today -- pretty relevant stuff to this subject:

There is a requirement to be blessed at a deeper spiritual level by God. Christ requires it of each of His servants. He required it of Paul when He struck him down on the Damascus Road. He required it of Joseph when he was left in the pit and then sold into slavery. He required it of Jacob when he left his homeland penniless and needy. He required it of most every major leader that He used significantly - brokenness.

Brokenness cannot be achieved on your own. It is something God does Himself. We cannot determine that we are going to be broken, but we can refuse to become broken. When God begins this deeper work in our lives, we can kick and scream and refuse the process. We can manipulate and strive to stay on top, but this only delays His work.

Pride and mammon are ruling strongholds of the workplace. Brokenness is considered a weak position in the workplace. However, God says until we are broken we cannot be an aroma pleasing to the Lord. God wants you to be an aroma in the workplace. In order for this to happen, you and I must be a broken vessel in His hand. Pray that God would allow you to become a pleasing aroma to Him no matter the cost.

It seems like lately I am going through a period of complete overwhelm. I have over-extended myself and don't know where to start to try to pull myself out. I keep searching for different angles and different solutions but they all just seem to lead to more frustration, more feelings of being overwhelmed, and even less being accomplished.

"But God can't get these things done; I have to do them," I say to myself. But yet I can't ... I continue to wallow in self pity and despair and things just keep mounting.

I keep thinking it would be nice to have a sabbatical. If only I could get rested up for a few months -- then I could come back refreshed, plow through things, and things would be better from then on out.

But what is a "sabbatical"? Originally it referred to a time of Sabbath -- a time set aside for rest and communion with God.

I must confess, that sounds nice ... but it also doesn't sound like a way to get the work done.

Somewhere in there, I know, is the mystery of God. He is the one who will refresh and restore me ... if I only turn to Him and allow Him to do so. Once I hit the point of where I do turn it all over to Him -- including all of these projects and things before me, He will provide the strength and encouragement and wisdom and inspiration to see that they are completed.

The question is, when will I hit that point of truly determining that I am not the one to be in control -- God is?

BIBLE STUDY

2009-06-28T07:37:00.003-04:00

I wish that I knew the Bible better. I really admire theologians who can pull together scriptures from various parts of the Bible ... who can find prophecies and prophecies fulfilled ... who can link back to the original language and translation. Wow.

It is a re-commitment I am making now to amp up my Bible study. Other than devotional references and following up on sermons I hear, I have not been reading the Bible much for several months. I need to fix that. God has given it to us as His special communication for our lives. Kind of a big loss to not be spending time with it, eh?

I have been spending some time recently with II Corinthians 5. Paul's letters always fascinate me. No one can read them and not see that Paul had divine inspiration and insight.

Check this out -- verse 5:

"God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit."

This was written in the context of God promising us a new body after our death here on earth. But yet He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit -- to guide us and encourage us now -- before we've died.

Then skip down a bit to verses 16 - 18 (I'm using NLT, by the way -- verse 17 of course will be familiar):

"16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him."

His gift of the Holy Spirit affects how we see others ... and out of seeing others differently, we will want to bring them to a relationship with Christ just as we ourselves have known.

But yet we're still humans ... God has made us new through the Holy Spirit which is indwelling to guide us to new thought processes, new reactions, new attitudes, and new actions ... but we're still human. the Holy Spirit supports our innate conscience and moral compass but yet, even as Christians, we will still mess up ... we can still make the choice to overrule what the Spirit tells us and do the opposite.

What then, is to keep us on the path? Gratitude ... gratitude for the relationship that God has offered us through the sacrifice of His son. When the Christian fully appreciates the gift of Jesus, we then will want to live out a life that is in the Spirit and is committed to leading others to their reconciliation as well.

Still, not easy though.

For me, Bible study is one major key.

THE STATE OF OHIO

2009-06-27T11:14:00.002-04:00

The state of Ohio, along with so many other states, is facing a serious budget situation. This was inevitable and was something I wrote a lot about last fall. Anytime the economy retracts and businesses lose sales, tax base is lost and governments will suffer. While we have seen this on the federal level (their answer seems to be to just make more money), we were bound to see it on the state level and we are also beginning to see serious problems on the municipal level. This situation is going to worsen and it forces governments to make decisions as to how they will handle things.

There has been lots of hoopla this week about cuts being proposed in Ohio by our state government for the purpose of attempting to improve the budget situation. The proposed cuts are painful and not attractive to anyone. Even though I am not a fan of our state's governor, I am not so narrow minded as to think he really likes these cuts. He doesn't want to cut spending in the proposed areas. He is simply backed into a corner and doesn't know a better way.

But yet we have an example of a better way just a couple of counties over in Mercer County. Mercer County in Ohio has worked hard for several years to support and attract businesses to their communities. I have known people in my own community who have chosen to set up their businesses in Mercer County just because of how attractive they've made it there, despite having to drive 45 minutes or so each way to get to their business.

And how has that worked out? In this time of a rotten economy, they are doing pretty well in Mercer County. They have a great business base and as a result their unemployment is one of the lowest in the states.

Proof that reaching out to business works.

Please write our state officials, including the governor. Discourage them from cuts that will negatively impact the future of our state, our communities, our families, and our individuals. Encourage them instead to reach out to business leaders and find ways to grow Ohio through increased commerce, not to shrink Ohio through damaging cutbacks.

Along with I would say 90% of all Ohio business owners, I stand ready to go to Columbus and to help find positive solutions, not negative and temporary relief. I have written numerous times to many people and no response. Please join me in encouraging our state to reach out to business ... to bring additional employment to Ohio even during these tough times ... and to make our state great once again.

Our state has a long history of innovation and technological advancement. We can re-capture that. But doing so requires a cooperative connection between state government and business ... something which is sadly lacking right now. Our state and citizens, mark my words, will continue to suffer until that changes.

IT'S NEVER TOO SOON

2009-06-27T08:54:00.003-04:00

It happens enough that it seems almost trite to say but you just never know when your number's going to be up. Even though it happens so often, how much do I really take it to heart?

No matter what you thought of Michael Jackson while he was alive, no matter how tired you might be getting of seeing his death on the news, may his passing serve as a reminder to all of us. We never know when our time here on earth will be up ... when the gig will be over, mugsy.

I am not sure what that thought means to each of us ... but we all have things that we put off thinking there will be another time, another place. It could be relationships with relatives, your relationship with God ... or it could be the impact you leave on the world ... regardless, it's never too soon to act.

One thing that's been weighing heavily on me as I get older is the question of "What impact will I leave on this world?" What legacy do I want to leave behind ... or do I just want to pass on in a manner which it really would not have made a heckuva lot of difference if I'd never existed.

You ever think about that?

If we can't leave the world a better place ... if we can't say that during our life we made people smile or laugh or contemplate a happier future for themselves, what difference does our life really make? Is it egotistical to want to leave a positive mark ... or is it innate to us as human beings created by God ... or is it purely altruistic? Really, maybe it doesn't make a difference ... if in some way we can leave the earth somewhat better than when we entered it, isn't that a good thing?

Christians will also see that as building the Kingdom ... preparing for the future ... helping others discover eternity with their maker. But even to those who believe this world is all there is, isn't it a good thing to leave it better than when we entered it?

The point is ... it's never too soon to start ... and some day regardless of what we think it WILL be too late. What if we all focused not on ourselves but on the world and on our fellow man. What does our own comfort or convenience or self-centeredness really matter in light of changing the future for hundreds or thousands or even millions?

What will we do today to get started?

ALARMS

2009-06-26T08:57:00.000-04:00

I got home a little after midnight last night after meeting up with a customer in Columbus. He is from Australia and he and his wife were passing through the area. Their flight was about two hours late from Chicago because about mid-way through the flight, it made an emergency return to Chicago where they were greeted by numerous emergency vehicles. Apparently the plane had alarms going off and the pilots knew better than to ignore them.

That wasn’t my only experience with alarms last night though. About fifteen minutes after I got home, our phone rang. There is pretty much only one reason our phone ever rings at that hour. An alarm was going off at work. I listened as the security company explained to me the series of alarms that had occurred. It’s always hard to diagnose such things long distance but, in my gut, I always know better than to ignore alarms. “Send the police in,” I said. “I’ll meet them there in a few minutes.”

Now, it was stormy here last night and it is not unusual to have the alarm go off when it is stormy. But what they described to me did not sound typical of a false alarm.

The police met me at the plant and told me they’d checked all the doors and everything seemed fine. I told them they could leave and I went on inside to try to re-set the alarm system. Turns out it wouldn’t re-set. Something had gone wrong with it. In the meanwhile, the alarm company also called home again to tell me about things. (I really need to give them my cell phone number.)

Anyway, it got me to thinking about alarms. I don’t like to ignore alarms when they go off at work but how often do I ignore alarms going off in my spiritual life? Alarms happen for a reason … to alert us and hopefully guide us to a corrected course of action. What are the spiritual alarms that hit home with you? Here are a few of mine …

1) Not reading and studying the Bible enough. I will go through periods where I do well on this but then, a skipped day here or there, and suddenly I am skipping every day. I need to recognize that as an alarm. When I am not reading and studying, I fill that time with other things, that usually being work. And working too much leads to burnout and frustration … things that without my personal Bible study I have no way to combat, making the situation even worse.

2) Complaining about other people. At the root of things, if I am complaining about another person, it is usually to make myself look better or feel better. Somehow by putting them down, I boost myself up. That is wrong on so many levels but at the core I believe it is an indication that I have forgotten whose I am. Because I have forgotten that my worth comes from God and not from my fellow man, I am trying to jumpstart my self worth through pridefulness. Not good. Doing so is an alarm that things are not right.

3) Being sad. Now, I am not at all a fan of Christians who put on an artificial happy Joy-in-the-Lord attitude. Fact is, in life, we go through tough times and tough times can bring sadness. Fact is, there can also be clinical reasons for sadness. I am not talking about that. I am talking about times when I just refuse to see God in the world around me and in my life. Times when I focus on the past instead of looking forward and realizing that God does have a plan and He does make things work for good. Again, that sort of sadness for no reason is an alarm for me about my spiritual life.

Like the alarm on Adrian’s plane and the alarms that go off at work in the middle of the night … these are not alarms to be ignored … though I often try to. What are your spiritual alarms?

ONE YEAR AGO

2009-06-23T21:47:00.002-04:00

I've been doing some thinking lately ... comparing the present to a year ago. A year ago, we were about a month into a journey that culminated in Lisa having her cancerous thyroid removed in September. The entire summer seemed to consist of doctor apointments, tests and procedures.

Funny thing, though -- from the moment we started that journey last year, I think that Lisa and I both knew what it was. Of course, we didn't know the exact details of what lay ahead. But we knew. It was cancer.

And God was faithful ... He brought us peace and calm in the midst painful news. He brought us love and care through friends. He brought us hope through His promise to always be with us.

Today, Lisa is cancer-free. He brought us healing. We go forward being held by Him -- never knowing exactly what the future holds except for one thing ... He loves us and He will be with us always.

The future is much less scary because of His promise and His faithfulness. May you know it too.

THE DAY

2009-06-07T21:58:00.003-04:00

Today was the day. The last day for the senior pastor at our church. The last day for the one who taught me how much God loves me and yearns for a relationship with me. The last day for the one who got me to take my spiritual life ... my eternity ... seriously.

Chris has been called on to a new ministry as a District Superintendent in the Methodist Church. As much as I think about how hard it is for us all to say good bye to him as our senior pastor, our future is relatively certain. Another great pastor will be filling his shoes. It occurs to me that, for him, Chris's future is less certain ... he is moving into an entirely different role ... different responsibilities ... a future very unlike his past. That has got to be exciting, yes, but also quite scary.

Dan Gildner, our Teaching Pastor and, like Chris, another great and godly man as well as a good friend, has recently blogged about some of the top lessons that Chris taught us during his 10 years with us. Dan has captured some great things and blogs about them very well. Click on his name to read them.

As I look back on our church's years with Chris, I sense and see something pretty phenomenal -- the start and progress of a true spiritual movement. We knew pretty early on with Chris that he did not stand for the status quo ... he was about transformation. And, when he came to us, we were frankly a sleepy church, perhaps you'd even have called us chronically depressed, on the decline. Chris had his work cut out for us.

But he taught us, with examples and stories and scripture, how much God loves us ... how much He wants to redeem us ... how much He wants to be with us. And out of that we then began to learn what our response needed to be ... our response needed to be out of changed hearts and minds ... out of gratitude ... out of His love flowing through us, creating an incredible circle back to God, back to our selves, and out to the world.

And, as we learned to love God, love ourselves, and love each other, we realized that there was only one thing we could do ... go and carry that love out to the world as Jesus commanded us.

I have been involved largely on the administrative side of things at church but how I admire those who have been gifted and skilled to be on frontline ministry. But something that Chris taught me was that even the most introverted of us can still live our lives differently by truly seeking and following God's direction and spreading His love no matter where we are.

When you take a whole congregation so inspired, you have a spiritual movement ... and Chris (along with his wonderful family) was the vessel that made that possible. While Chris moves on and we will miss him terribly, though, a true movement is not easily stopped. The momentum is there ... transformation of individuals, a church, a community and even the wider world is occurring ... and occurring not only through those in our church but through others who have been impacted and inspired along the way.

We love and will miss Chris and his family but we are all under the same banner ... building the Kingdom ... carrying God's love. Under that banner there may be difficulties but there is camaraderie. We will always be working together ... part of a movement ... an ongoing spiritual movement.

Thank you God.

PROVERBS 5 (NIV)

2009-05-28T05:41:00.001-04:00

21 For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all his paths.

22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.

23 He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.

THE GREATEST TEST

2009-05-27T05:25:00.000-04:00

The following was written by Os Hillman.

"I know, my God, that You test the heart and are pleased with integrity." - 1 Chronicles 29:17a

God tests His children to know what is in their hearts. God's desire for each of His children is to walk in relationship with Him, to uphold His righteousness and integrity. It is a high calling that we will fail to achieve without complete dependence on Him.

The greatest tests come not in great adversities, but in great prosperity. For it is in prosperity that we begin to lose the sensitivity to sin in our lives. Adversity motivates us to righteousness out of a desire to see our adversity changed. Prosperity fails to provide this motivation for obedience. We fall into a satisfaction and confidence in life that is based on our prosperity rather than on God.

Hezekiah was a great godly king. He was a faithful, God-honoring king most of his life, but toward the end he became proud. God wanted to find out if he would still honor Him and recognize His blessings in his life. He failed the test when God sent an envoy to his palace to inquire about a miracle that God performed on behalf of Hezekiah. The test was designed to find out if Hezekiah would publicly acknowledge the miracle performed on his behalf.

But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart (2 Chronicle 32:31).

Hezekiah's failure resulted in his children failing to carry on as rulers of Israel, and the nation would eventually be taken over by Babylon.

The lesson of Hezekiah is clear. If we are to remain faithful to our Lord, we must remain steadfast in our obedience to Him. Prosperity can be our greatest test. Ask the Lord to give you the grace to be a faithful follower during times of prosperity

ENTER HIS SANCTUARY

2009-05-26T06:07:00.001-04:00

Following is a great devotional by Steve Troxel.

In the last several messages we've considered the importance of seeking God and loving Him with ALL our heart. This is an important issue with regard to our Salvation and the eternally restored relationship to which we've been called. But it's also critical to how we view the world around us and function in our day to day activities.

The author of Psalm 73 wrote with words of frustration about the things he saw in the world. He couldn't understand how the wicked could be so carefree and yet so successful; "For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (Psalm 73:3). He felt he may have even wasted his time in maintaining Godly values; "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence" (Psalm 73:13). He kept searching for answers, but found none until he returned to worship in the presence of God.

Psalm 73:16-17
"When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me - till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood."

Many issues in our life simply cannot be resolved through our human understanding and reasoning. We often try to make sense of events in the world, or in our particular situation, only to discover there are no easy answers or solutions. But no matter how confusing our life may become, we must always remember we're a child of God - a child of the Creator of the Universe! "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth" (Psalm 36:6).

Our Heavenly Father does not function according to a set of human rules. He is not confined by time or space, and He's certainly not guided by our set of values; "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways" (Isaiah 55:9). We must give God all of our mind as we seek to understand Him through His Word and study how He has moved throughout history; but we must also give Him all of our heart as we worship Him despite what we see, think, or feel. Only in the sanctuary of worship will we begin to truly understand.

We must come to our Heavenly Father with a heart-felt belief that being in His presence is more important than anything else in the world; "Whom have I in Heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You" (Psalm 73:25). This type of passion allows us to draw near and begin to see the disconnected pieces of our life fit neatly into God's perfect plan.

Let's return to the place where He's everything we desire and all we really need. Let's worship Him with all our heart and begin to understand His wonderful plan for our life. Let's once and for all open the door and enter His sanctuary!

PROVERBS 4 (NIV)

2009-05-25T07:37:00.000-04:00

Seek out others who are wise and learn by following them.

WRESTLING WITH GOD

2009-05-23T07:12:00.000-04:00

Great devotional by Os Hillman.

"So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak." - Genesis 32:24

All that Jacob had lived for was coming down to one event - his reunion with Esau. More than 20 years had passed since Jacob had manipulated his father's blessing away from his brother Esau. During these years God had been changing Jacob from a controller and manipulator to a man who was learning to trust God. He was now ready to meet Esau. However, he was fearful that Esau might take revenge on him and his family for his past sin, so he sent a gift ahead, while he retreated and sought mercy from God.

As an angel appeared to Jacob, he realized the only hope he had was in God. Only if God blessed him would he survive this ordeal. In the past, Jacob would have sought to solve his problem his way. Now, he wanted only God's way. He wanted Him so badly that he wouldn't let go of the angel. He was striving with God, but it was the right kind of striving. Jacob was striving to have all God's blessing on his life. He was seeking God with all that he had. "When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man" (Gen. 32:25). The only way to overcome the strong will of this man was to physically immobilize him. The angel touched the socket of Jacob's hip. It was painful; it broke him. This was the final stage of removing the old nature from Jacob. It was the place of complete brokenness and surrender. No longer would Jacob walk in his own strength. He would now have to lean on a cane, symbolic of his leaning on God alone.

It was the final act from God in Jacob's life that was celebrated with a new name - Israel. No longer would he strive with God or man. The process was now complete. God could now bless this man abundantly. He gave him favor with Esau and restored their broken relationship.

What does God have to do in our lives to remove the controlling and manipulative nature that so often is part of a workplace believer's life? Perhaps it will require a time of immobilizing, loss of a job, loss of income, loss of health, loss of a close relationship. These are His methods of preparation. Your new nature will not be complete until you've stopped striving with God through your own self-efforts. If God is taking you through this process, be encouraged; it is because of the inheritance He has prepared for you. However, the inheritance can only be received when God brings us to total dependence on Him.

LIFE TOGETHER: AUTHENTIC FRIENDSHIPS

2009-05-22T08:49:00.001-04:00

The following great piece was written by Rick Warren.

"But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:7-8, NCV)

In Christian fellowship people should experience authenticity.

Authentic fellowship is not superficial, surface-level chit-chat. It's genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level sharing.

It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, disclose their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.

Authenticity is the exact opposite of what you find in many churches. Instead of an atmosphere of honesty and humility, there is pretending, role-playing, politicking, superficial politeness, and shallow conversation. People wear masks, keep their guard up, and act as if everything is rosy in their lives. These attitudes are the death of real friendship.

It's only as we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. The Bible says, "If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other ... If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves" (1 John 1:7-8, NCV)

The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. We tend to use darkness to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.

Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again.

Why would anyone take such a risk?

Because it's the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed" (James 5:16, MSG)

Question: How can you try to cultivate more authentic friendships with your Christian brothers and sisters?

EUGENE CHO ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

2009-05-22T07:29:00.001-04:00

MUST READ -- "Call to action" blog post on human trafficking by Eugene Cho ...

http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/fk-human-trafficking-there-i-said-it/

QUESTION

2009-05-09T20:09:00.002-04:00

Does anyone have any good information on how much Americans historically give to charity?

I think it is unfortunate what our country has done to the words "liberal" and "conservative". More and more, our distinction between these terms gives the implication that a person cannot be conservative in fiscal and social policies yet still have a huge heart and passion for justice and the impoverished of this world. That troubles me greatly because I think it leads us in a dead wrong direction.

I believe that quite the opposite is true. When social policies reward those who are true entrepreneurs -- those who "create" -- I believe that support of the world's hurting increases. I believe that statistics will show this to be true but I have not yet found that detailed of information.

Unfortunately, oftentimes, popular culture and media wants to confuse conservatives with opportunists. The comparison must instead be made between entrepreneurs and opportunists -- those who create to help others and those who pounce to help themselves.

Here's the question I pose: Supporting which group will best advance social causes worldwide?

Here's a good article to read. Click Here.

BOOK REVIEW: The Hole In Our Gospel

2009-05-07T01:55:00.002-04:00

Lisa heard at the Women of Faith conference about The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. I started investigating the book a bit and found out it was very recently published and Stearns is the President of World Vision. I also learned that Bill Hybels ordered 10,000 copies for the members of Willow Creek.

This is a very readable book. Stearns has done a great job of gathering statistics as well as scriptural references, all of which he puts to great use. While there's nothing earth-shattering in this book, it will give you a far better understanding of poverty in our world and God's personal call to each of us to do something about it rather than just turn our heads.

I will be recommending this book for a long time to come. You will not read it and be unchanged.

My question is this though: What will I do now?

PURSUING CHRIST

2009-05-03T07:04:00.002-04:00

Here is the story from Luke 4:14-21 in which Jesus proclaimed His purpose and, especially His fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy:

Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone's acclaim and pleasure.

He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."

This is how Jesus saw Himself. As disciples of His, we are to be pursuing the same things He pursued ... how personally do we really take this? How personally do we really work to bring freedome to the poor, the bline, and the burdened and battered?

Jesus, I believe, did not come just to save us ... but to transform us ... and for us to in turn transform the world.

How well do you think we do at keeping up our end of the bargain?

PROVERBS 3

2009-05-02T08:03:00.001-04:00

Seek, trust, and follow God. Treat others as He would.

COMMUNITY

2009-05-02T07:51:00.002-04:00

I have not been writing much lately, at least not for pleasure. I miss it but, regardless, today won't change the trend.

I wanted to record a few thoughts I had this morning on "community" though.

One of the big things associated with Starbucks' stellar growth and popularity a few years ago was that they provided more than coffee ... they provided community. In metropolitan areas, it seemed that folks were really craving this sense of community so they'd line up at Starbucks each day, caring more about who they got to share a few words with than they did the coffee. It was hard for them to recognize that, though, so they told folks they went there for the great coffee.

As I have gotten older, I have begun to realize how much I desire and love community. When I was younger, I fancied myself a bit of a lone wolf ... I was comfortable being on the outside of community. I wouldn't say that I was scared of community but I was more prideful of my ability to resist community and be the independent self-reliant type.

But, these days, things have changed. I have lived in the town we live in now for I figure 24 of my 45 years. Yopu'd think I would have understood the importance of community within that context far sooner than I did but I am a bit stubborn and resistant.

These days, though, whether it's at the service station, my favorite coffee place, church, school, restaurants, the bank, even doctors' offices, I truly enjoy seeing people I know ... and greeting them as well as greeting folks I don't know. You get a mixed bag of reactions when you greet people who don't know you ... but that just makes it more interesting.

At my favorite coffee place, even though it only takes them a minute or so to make my drink, I sit down on the couch while they make it. I like the relaxed feeling of the couch ... from there I can be comfortable as I watch and hopefully participate in the community around me.

There's something markedly richer and more enjoyable about living life in community ... the way that I believe we were intended to live.

GODLY COMPASSION

2009-04-27T08:39:00.001-04:00

The following is by Steve Troxel of God's Daily Word Ministries -- very timely words.

As we open our hearts to minister to those around us, we soon discover we live in an imperfect world full of sickness, heartache, and frustrations. Many of us (many more than we realize) are facing trials which are sometimes quite severe. When we are finally invited into someone's private world and allowed to hear of their pain, it can be difficult to know what to do or say.

As we grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus, we learn of His truths: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We understand and usually have some actual experience with God's loving plan and purpose; "in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). But there are times when this type of advice - even this type of truth - can be a little cold and fail to comfort or draw someone closer to God.

While it's absolutely true that God will use our pain and suffering for His glory, it may not be the first response someone needs to hear when they enter a difficult trial; "There is a time for everything...a time to be silent and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7). We must learn to be sensitive to the more immediate need.

When Lazarus became very sick, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus but He did not come until after Lazarus died. Mary fell at Jesus' feet and cried: "Lord if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:32). At that moment, Jesus did NOT begin preaching "Rejoice in the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4). There would be other opportunities for sermons, other opportunities to speak about faith and trust, but in this moment the need simply required compassion.

John 11:33,35
"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled...Jesus wept."

The Creator of the Universe wept! From the beginning of time, Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead; He knew many lives would soon be changed through this miracle. But "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus" (John 11:5). Though this pain and sorrow was necessary in the context of God's sovereign plan, these were real people who were grieving and Jesus took time to show He truly cared and understood their pain.

The world is in great need of the healing power of Jesus Christ. Sin has caused separation from God and left many lives in a mess. As we minister through encouragement and the truth of God's Word, we are called to do so while "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). But love does not exist outside of a relationship. And in a loving relationship we will often best demonstrate God's truth by listening and comforting with a Godly compassion.

PROVERBS 2 (NLT)

2009-04-27T05:55:00.002-04:00

1 My child, listen to what I say,
and treasure my commands.
2 Tune your ears to wisdom,
and concentrate on understanding.
3 Cry out for insight,
and ask for understanding.
4 Search for them as you would for silver;
seek them like hidden treasures.
...

20 Follow the steps of good men instead,
and stay on the paths of the righteous.
21 For only the godly will live in the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it.

PROVERBS 1 (NLT)

2009-04-26T07:29:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had a colleague and friend say that he suggests that we all read through Proverbs at least annually. I am not certain but I do not believe that I have ever read straight through it before. Instead, I have always viewed it as sort of a curiosity ... something to be glanced at on occasion or to be read when quoted by others.

I have been going through a lot of "stuff" in my life lately and, in particular, have been trying to really examine my own life, my actions, throughts, reactions, and attitudes. Seems like a good time to work through Proverbs.

This book of the Bible is pretty cool in that it starts out with an exact description of what it is all about:

1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.
2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of the wise.
3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,
to help them do what is right, just, and fair.
4 These proverbs will give insight to the simple,
knowledge and discernment to the young.

5 Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.
Let those with understanding receive guidance
6 by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables,
the words of the wise and their riddles.

7 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

My main take-away from this chapter: Associate with folks who are wise and will give you good counsel.

THE VALIDATION VIDEO

2009-04-19T07:32:00.002-04:00

My blogging friend Trey Morgan (who is much more prolierous than I!) has found a tremendous viedo and posted it. Click here to check it out on his site and then ... go out and change the world ... but remember to give credit to the One who validates us all ... unconditionally and with love unending.

I BET YOU WILL SMILE

2009-04-17T20:03:00.001-04:00

A friend sent me this link to a youtube video of an old movie with a Bob Hope and Jimmy Cagney dance routine. It reminds me of movies we watched on TV on Sunday afternoons when I was a kid.

I bet you can't help but smile at it.

DYING TO ONE'S SELF

2009-04-13T16:30:00.001-04:00

The mature person realizes that life affirms itself most, not in acquiring things, but in giving time, efforts, strength, intelligence, and love to others. Here a different kind of dialectic of life and death begins to appear. The living drive, the vital satisfaction, by "ending" its trend to self-satisfaction and redirecting itself to and for others, transcends itself. It "dies" insofar as the ego is concerned, for the self is deprived of the immediate satisfactions which it could claim without being contested. Now it renounces these things, in order to give to others. Hence, life "dies" to itself in order to give itself away and thus affirms itself more maturely, more fruitfully, and more completely. We live in order to die to ourselves and give everything to others. ...This "dying" to self in order to give to others is nothing more or less than a higher and more special affirmation of life. Such dying is the fruit of life, the evidence of mature and productive living. It is, in fact, the end or the goal of life.

Thomas Merton. Love and Living. Naomi Burton Stone & Patrick Hart, editors (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jonvanovich, 1985)

DOES THIS BOTHER YOU

2009-04-13T08:04:00.002-04:00

Check out this NYT article on proposed changes to the student loan program. Let me know what you think. I see a continued trend toward removing the incentive for private companies to do anything which encourages growth of our nation. These are, to me, short-sighted actions that our country will pay dearly for over time.

A PLEA TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

2009-04-09T07:07:00.003-04:00

Stress breeds anger and desperation. It's bound to happen. Always does. Are you seeing it and feeling it in your circle -- amongst co-workers, friends, family, your community? When people go through highly stressed times, we don't always behave the greatest, do we? Tempers flare and irrational behavior ensues. Sure, some results can be Jean Valjean-esque acts of desperate but almost noble behavior but other acts are just misguided desperation.

The recent economic trials of our country and the world are going to increasingly trigger bizarre and wrong behavior. And, to some degree, because we're all in the same boat, we not only come to expect this behavior on the part of others but we actually can fall right in step with it.

Have you noticed how we've all started to wince less when we hear of another grisly mass murder? Maybe we don't exactly take them in stride yet but I suspect we are heading that direction. You almost open up the news expecting to see another story of some horrible tragedy enacted on others by a sadly misguided and incredibly furstrated individual or two.

President Obama -- you need to be the leader to take us out of this increasingly negative mindset. We've become like the Israelites in the desert ... if you do not constantly remind and re-remind us of the promise and hope before us, we become angry ... cynical ... withdrawn ... depressed. And when that happens, bad behavior is expected and indeed ensues.

Ronald Reagan rallied our country as a "shining city upon a hill". Bush Sr. challenged us to be a thousand points of light. Yes, they stole these sayings from others that went before them. And, yes, you can argue the long term positive effectiveness of these "slogans" but, if you lived through them, you will recall that these sayings brought us hope ... they brought us vision ... they brought us direction and renewed optimism.

President Obama, we need this now. You do sometimes speak in optimistic, hopeful and reassuring terms but you have yet to give us something as a country to rally behind. Or, better yet and even more appropriate for our times, as a world to rally behind.

Am I reducing our country or world's future to being dependent upon a catchy saying? Maybe so ... but it is what we need. It has worked in the past and we need it again. It is one way to begin truly leading a people who are increasingly angry, bitter and irrational. It is one way to lead us onward and upward ... to give us vision and a dream ... to help us to aspire and see the lack of a future that exists in normal human behavior during stressful times.

Bring us something that leads us, President Obama. Help us to dream and hope once again. Help us to see what we can be ... what God intended us to be ... help us to live into that shining city upon a hill

II CORINTHIANS 13 (MSG)

2009-03-30T06:04:00.002-04:00

Examine ourselves. Give ourselves regular checkups. Make sure that Jesus really is living in us.

The life of one on the journey ... traveling and training. Examining ourselves. Striving to be more Christ-like. Evangelizing by living a life of examination and modeling.

Loving the Lord. Seeking to be more like Him. Seeking the peace and love that come from that.

That is where I want to be.

BE NEITHER DIVIDED NOR DISTRACTED

2009-03-29T00:49:00.002-04:00

I attended a Bible study led by a friend today. In it, he commented that "You cannot have a divided life nor a distracted life." I love his statement. However, I also think it's pretty easy to misconstrue it. I think it's easy to hear this sentence and assume that he means we must live a life which would be, in Christ's eyes, perfect. The problem is that that is not going to happen. Christians aren't perfect. Far from it. We mess up all the time. If we hold ourselves out as being perfect to the examining world, we're sending the Great Commission backward.

No, we're not perfect and human nature will never allow us to be. My friend's point instead was that we cannot compartmentalize off sections of our life with the intention of not allowing God into that area. Maybe it's our work in the marketplace. Maybe it's Friday night out with the guys. Maybe it's an addiction we feed. We all probably have several area of our lives we'd like to section off as being our "own" where we're not trying to allow God to work nor to reside. But those are exactly the places where God wants to work and reside ... the places where His son was most comfortable.

As Christians, we can never be perfect. But, we must be sold out for God in all areas of our lives ... trying to allow Him to work and even live there. We cannot live a divided nor a distracted life. God intends for us to be whole ... He can make us whole ... but we must first turn all of our life over to Him.

BE AN INSPIRATIONAL LEADER

2009-03-24T20:56:00.001-04:00

Are you always seeking to be a better leader -- better at leading high impact groups that create transformation? Click here for a very current article by John Maxwell on how to be an inspirational leader.

SCARS

2009-03-22T22:02:00.009-04:00

I met a man today who, during the course of our half hour conversation, showed me his colostomy. Normally, if you have that happen in an initial conversation with a stranger, that is what you will remember ... but it's not what pray that I remember from this conversation.

This man was seeking intimacy ... relationship ... love. In his pursuit for that closeness, he shared something which was probably the most intimate thing he could share ... the scars and equipment from a surgery that left his life forever changed.

Never mind how appropriate or inappropriate the world may think what he did was, he shared what he could ... in search of relationship.

Yes, on one hand, this makes you see how disillusioned some folks can get in their desperate search for intimacy ... how easy it is to fulfill that need in unhealthy ways if you do not find it in healthy ways but, with my new friend, this wasn't the case.

I asked him to tell me about his life ... and out came years of painful and revealing stories. Stories that a part of me wondered whether they could really be true ... until he revealed those scars which in reality showed the wounds of much more than just a life-changing surgery.

He told me of how his father burned down their home ... how his mother was forced to raise their eight children ... how he served in Vietnam and was permanently disabled. He told me of years of isolation living in Chicago and New York, eventually moving to my town because some of his kin were there. "There's a point when you just need love," he said, choking on the words as they came out.

Love is what he is seeking ... and what so many people are seeking. Mid-way through our conversation, my new friend stopped and asked me whether I remembered his name. I thought that was odd but I now realize it was his way of trying to figure out whether I really cared ... whether he was really finding the love he was seeking ... or if I was just "putting up" with him.

Honestly, there have been lots of times when I have gotten in similar conversations and I really was just "putting up" with them ... I pray that I won't be that way in the future ... because I remember the scars ... scars that serve as reminders of the need for ... and the presence of ... love, intimacy, relationship.

I pray for the scars.

MANUFACTURING -- IS IT REALLY "THE MAN"?

2009-03-22T20:35:00.000-04:00

I had an interesting talk about manufacturing the other day with a friend. Very interesting. He also has a company that is a manufacturer. During part of the conversation, he told me that I should look up this video on Youtube. Check it out – “Chinese Press Automation”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-LLsODnuHI

The video shows such a manufacturing situation so ridiculous and incredibly dangerous that I really question whether it is authentic. Sadly, I suspect that it is.

I made the comment to my friend that I believe that USA manufacturers have been demonized. I am not sure he agreed with me but I still stand by what I said.

Here’s the situation … as a country develops, things are going to happen which are not good. People will at some point be exploited for cheap and dangerous labor. Our country had its share of that. I am not condoning this … just saying that it happened here and now it is happening elsewhere. Looking back over the years, you can see the progression … Japan, Mexico, China, Indonesia, India … but there’s something really important to notice … the “cycle time” is getting faster and faster. By that, I mean the window of time within which a developing nation offers the cheapest labor, which means unsafe conditions and exploited humans.

The reason for this shorter cycle time is that manufacturing methods are so much more advanced than they used to be. For a period of time when a country is developing, it can exploit cheap labor, ala the above video link. But, after awhile, things start to catch up … the country has money to adopt new technologies and people begin to stop tolerating unsafe and exploitative conditions. (It’s a little more complex than that but that is a decent synopsis.) This cycle time, if you will, is getting shorter and shorter all the time. While it lasted a couple of decades with Japan, it lasted maybe one decade with Mexico. China is quickly progressing through the cycle so Indonesia and India are next. Eventually we will see some South American countries also run through the cycle.

Here’s the bad part … as this continues, more and more of our manufacturing is moved offshore and, more and more, we just buy products made by foreign companies … companies taking advantage of exploited humans and unsafe conditions. And, at the same time, because US manufacturers have been demonized – painted as “the man” who needs to have it “stuck to him” – we make US manufacturing not only less and less competitive but less and less attractive for anyone to pursue as a business.

Do not misread what I am saying and think that I am in favor of exploited humans or unsafe conditions. Quite the opposite because I believe fully within my heart that, with US technology, ingenuity, and hard work, we can have the most competitive manufacturing in the world. We have all the makings of it. The technology advances that eventually run other countries through “the cycle” are for the most part based in US technology which is more common sense than European technology.

But yet we have made US manufacturing into “the man” – we want it to carry a bigger and bigger tax burden – through unionization (read up on EFCA) we want it to cover huge ongoing legacy costs, supporting people who no longer work – we want to “stick it to” US manufacturing however we can because it is “the man” and “the man” is bad and needs to be penalized or corrected … or exploited and milked for all its worth. But the problem is that this is only pushing US consumers to end up exploiting workers in other countries … because we want cheap products. And we get upset when we pay a price like lead in childrens’ toys or drywall in houses that outgases sulphur dioxide and makes people sick.

We drive manufacturing offshore … we make it less and less attractive to be a manufacturer in the US … we talk about the US becoming a “service-based” economy … somehow that seems good and right

But here’s the conundrum … all of these other countries that can be exploited for a period of time for cheap labor and unsafe conditions … they eventually do work their way through “the cycle”. And “the cycle” keeps getting shorter. Eventually where do we end up? Buying expensive products made offshore and with seriously deteriorated and diminished domestic infrastructure to support our own manufacturing, as well as no financial incentive to start up new US manufacturing. And much of this is because of the way that our country and our legislators have, meaning to or not, demonized manufacturing – “stuck it” to “the man”.

This is a serious problem … escalating rapidly. If we as Americans and our legislators do not soon realize that we must bolster and support safe and efficient US manufacturing, we will soon find ourselves in a world of hurt. And I am not talking in my grandchildren’s lifetime … I am talking within my lifetime.

A TOUGH COMMAND

2009-03-14T08:07:00.001-04:00

The following was written by "that other Stanley" -- Charles Stanley.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Many divine commands seem perfectly reasonable - for example, no adultery, no idols, and no murder. But then, the Lord also gave some instructions that ostensibly make little sense. Let's look at why He calls us to the seemingly impossible task of giving thanks in everything.

The Scriptures clearly teach that giving thanks is meant to be a way of life, not just a seasonal event. (Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 92:1-2) The problem is that we often do not feel appreciative, particularly when facing painful circumstances or faith tests. In fact, expressing gratitude for bad news seems irrational. Our limited claim to rationality, however, cannot compete with God's greater knowledge of what is best for His children. As a result, we live a successful Christian life only by choosing to thank Him for everything He sends or allows across our path.

What the Lord knows is that gratitude powerfully impacts the believer. Trials can leave us feeling isolated, but thanking God for His ongoing care or provision reminds us of His constant presence. Equipped with the knowledge that He is in control, we can submit our will to His. Though our circumstances remain the same, our attitude is divinely changed through trust.

Remember: Romans 8:28 promises that all things work together for the believer's good. That means the Lord has a purpose for every event He orchestrates or permits.

Thankfulness motivates us to seek His purpose. In God's perfect time, the divine plan is revealed, and we can tell Him with sincere hearts, "Lord, thank You!"

Question: Even if you're going through tough times, what do you have to be thankful to the Lord for today?

CONCERT WEEK

2009-03-14T07:37:00.003-04:00

This has been an unusual week. Two concerts in one week. Save for going to Evan's school concerts, my past history has been something more like two concerts every 20 years. Seriously. It's been a good week though.

On Tuesday night we saw Elton John and Billy Joel in Cincinnati on their Face 2 Face tour. Up in the back row of the far corner of the US Bank Arena (those of you my age will remember it as the Coliseum), acoustics were not the greatest and it got up to oh, I don't know, maybe six thousand degrees. But, still, starting with dinner at The Montgomery Inn Boathouse, Lisa and I shared the evening with good friends and had a great time.

The concert lasted well over three hours with no intermission. They opened together with a few songs, followed by a long set by Elton John, a somewhat shorter set by Bill Joel, and then they came back together. Unfortunately, with the acoustics what they were, we did not get to hear a lot of their keyboard magic but, when we did, it was obvious that they are both still incredible. Elton had the better voice for the night but Billy Joel, backed by a much larger band with saxes and brass, by far took the "showman" and entertainer awards for the evening.

Then, last night, we saw Casting Crowns at Hobart Arena in Troy, Ohio. Still in the back row of the far corner, it is a much smaller arena so the seats were just fine. Casting Crowns played many of their big contemporary Christian hits and also did a plug for World Vision.

The song that "got me" most was one of their newer songs, "Slow Fade". This song points out just how easy it is for one to slip from a fire-in-the-belly journey-er for Christ to someone eventually just stumbling along following their own ways and the ways of the world instead of Christ. Not that a person always has to be over-the-top and not that it is not expected that we will have hills and valleys in our spiritual lives just as we do our real lives, but for me the lyrics of this song remind me that I need to stay up with my prayer life, my Bible study, ... my walk ... my community with others ... or things do begin a slow fade. And in these days where stress seems to be foisted upon us from all angles, it is so easy to lose our focus on God ... to start living for ourselves ... to give ourselves away ... and crumble.

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

UNDONE

2009-03-14T07:34:00.002-04:00

Here's a bit of a trip (don't take that the wrong way) down memory lane ... lyrics that seem so strangely appropriate for our economy, our culture, and our society. "Undone" by The Guess Who.

She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late

She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly
It was too late

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
She wanted truth but all she got was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late

She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
Mama, it was too late

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone

Too many mountains, and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
(Doe-doe-doe-doe-doe doe un doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe)
(Doe doe-doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe doe-doe-doe)
(Doe doe-doe-doe doe doe-doe-doe doe doe)

[break]

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late

She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly
Mama, it was too late

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
(No no-no-no-no-no no)
(Doe doe doe-doe)

U2's MAGNIFICENT

2009-03-10T07:26:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to U2 performing Magnificent on Letterman last week. Lyrics included. Click here.

WHEN GOD RESTORES

2009-03-10T05:12:00.001-04:00

The following, which seems so timely, was written by Os Hillman. To me, it is a reminder that Hope really need be nothing more than God's promise of restoration.

"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm - My great army that I sent among you." - Joel 2:25

There are seasons in our lives that involve times of famine and times of restoration. Solomon tells us that He has made everything beautiful in its time and that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven. (See Ecclesiastes 3:1,11.)

God brings about both the good and the bad. The seasons of famine have a divine purpose in our lives. They accomplish things that only these hard places can accomplish. But there is a time when those hard places have accomplished their purpose and He begins to restore. God did this with the nation of Israel after a season of famine and devastation.

Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm - My great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will My people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will My people be shamed" (Joel 2:23-27).

God wants each of us to know that there is a time when He will restore in order to demonstrate His gracious hand in our lives. He is a loving Father who tenderly guides His children through the difficult places. If God has taken you through a time of leanness, know that He is the restorer of that which the locusts have eaten. Wait patiently for Him to bring this about in your life. He will do it.

THE PROBLEM WITH POLITICS

2009-03-08T07:32:00.000-04:00

I haven’t felt much like writing lately. It seems like my mind is always so full of thoughts and spinning to fast that the idea of trying to concentrate and actually write something seems very difficult. I’ve been getting into Twittering a bit … it’s sort of fun … and requires far less thought than blogging. I have found that hellotxt.com can be used to post simultaneous updates to Twitter and Facebook with a simple email or text.

We’ve been keeping pretty busy at work. That is certainly nice. But a big part of my focus is constantly on trying to figure out how to make sure the company finds its way over, through, around, or under this tough economy. I am determined to actually add team members in 2009.

Speaking of which … our local unemployment numbers for January just came out … 11.8%. This is up substantially from something like 8.3% in December. It would not surprise me to see us pushing 14% when the February numbers come out. By the way, during the Great Depression, the maximum unemployment was around 25% in 1933. One thing the current numbers do not capture though is how many people are working reduced hours from their norm. That percentage around here at least seems very high.

Have you noticed that it’s not cool to talk about how bad the economy is, though? That bothers me. Whenever you do, folks look at you like you’re a horrible pessimist … or you’re being critical of the Obama administration. Fact is, I am neither. I am an incredible optimist overall. But I believe that we cannot stick our heads in the sand … we must be aware of what is going on … we must learn from it … and we must seek solutions. As far as being critical of Obama … the current economic situation has its roots long before he was in office. Now, do I think that the right things are being done to correct the situation? No, not really. But I realize it’s early in the game yet.

However, in all of this, though, one cannot miss one of the big problems with politics … especially today …

In a fluid situation which is new to all of us … one in which we should maintain maximum flexibility and willingness to change … it is very hard for politicians to stray from the course that got them elected. Every word they have ever said has been recorded and will be used against them if they do not try to fulfill it.

This is the position that the current administration is in … trying to live into campaign promises that, even though they were made a year or less ago, were made in a very different world and very different environment. But, rather than risk political suicide by saying “Hey, things have changed, we need to take a different tact on this,” they barrel forward … putting all kinds of things at great risk.

Does anyone really think that anyone in Washington believes that spending and taxing is the right way to go right now? Maybe I’m naïve … maybe it is my optimism … but I think they are too smart for that. They know better but they have painted themselves into a corner and cannot get out without stepping through the red paint and tracking it wherever they go.

Here’s what’s happening … and everyone knows this … our tax base is shrinking at an incredible rate. Any municipality or organization that depends upon tax dollars knows this so painfully well right now. With so many folks out of work, so many folks working reduced hours, temp agencies (which must pay sales tax) basically shut down, and people buying less and less, tax receipts are declining at a very rapid rate. And from all appearances, I’d say that situation will get far worse before it gets better.

The effect of this is even farther reaching than just taxes though. State unemployment and workers’ comp funds are way down. They are seeking loans and bailout money … Social Security is going to be hurt big-time as well.

So, why does, the government think that spending more on pet projects that will have very limited effect … and trying to tax and fee right and left those who potentially could get the economy going again … makes sense? They don’t. They have to know better than that. But they have made promises and not fulfilling them is political suicide compared to simply failing and being able to blame everything on those who went before them. (Are you hearing that happen already? Listen closely.)

To some degree, at the bottom of this is the information age … much as I do not want to shut down the media, the thirst we all have for information and being able to hold others accountable (forgetting about ourselves usually) is one of the key drivers in all of this.

This economic situation is going to get much worse. Again, I risk people getting upset with me for sounding negative … but I am just being real here. All the markers are there. Nothing is happening to pull us out of this.

Interesting to note that now GM feels that even with the bailout money, they won’t make it through this. Months ago, I said that would be the case. The only way to pull them out would have been big incentives to get people buying cars again. GM didn’t need buckets of bailout cash. They needed people buying cars again. They needed to move inventory and get workers back to work.

That is where things are for the entire country right now. Small tax breaks for low and moderate income folks is not going to do it … those will not be used in ways which get people back to work. That cash will be swallowed up by paying off debt and socking away to recoup retirement savings. But, with extra requirements the fed now has on banks, that money will not go back out in credit … and most Americans are scared of credit now anyway. Any extra money that a business gets ahold of right now is also having to be used to pay back banks or to increase profits to show banks the ratios that the feds are now demanding.

The stimulus spending will eventually have some limited benefit in certain areas and certain industry segments. But for the first many months or perhaps even years after those dollars start flowing, they will be sucked back by the banks and corporate bank accounts. It would be far better for the government to simply incentivize consumers to buy certain things through rebates, making that money flow a bit, and restoring consumer confidence. But that goes against the political promises they made. Some folks will argue that this is all about Obama pushing for an extreme left agenda. And maybe there was some truth to that at one time … but I don’t think there is today … today it’s all about avoiding political suicide … these guys and gals know better than what they’re doing.

GOVERNMENT GONE WILD

2009-02-28T20:44:00.003-05:00

What would you think if, in the city or town where you live, no one employed more people than your local government? Chances are that sounds a little far-fetched but maybe not impossible in some towns without a major employer.

What if, in the county where you live, the county was the biggest employer? That sounds pretty unlikely, eh?

What if, in the state where you live, the state was the biggest employer? Again, pretty unlikely.

Now, what if the average annual salary of those government workers was $67,000? And what if, with benefits, the total average package was more than $106,000?

What I just described to you is not your local, county, or state government. It is your federal government -- the biggest employer in the entire country.

For all the flack that "big business" automotive producers, brokerage houses, and banks have gotten for having too many employees and paying them all too much ... for all the citations of greed and corruption ... for all the claims that this is what led to their downfall ...

does it seem correct or necessary to have a federal government that all by itself is our biggest employer -- at an average salary that makes most of us salivate ... and then have that government voting to make itself bigger ...

does this seem wise ... does it seem sustainable?

Did it work for the auto manufacturers, brokerage houses, and banks?

Something to think about?

FRUITFUL SUFFERING

2009-02-25T05:40:00.000-05:00

The following was written by Os Hillman.

..."It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." - Genesis 41:52

Joseph named his second son Ephraim. Ephraim was given to him after he had been delivered from his suffering of 13 years. Joseph said that he named him this because God had made him fruitful in the land of his suffering. Ephraim means "twice fruitful."

Joseph was fruitful in two instances. He was fruitful during his time of adversity and in his prosperity. When God brings us into a time of suffering, it can be a fruitful time. It's rare for us to see the fruit during the suffering period. But know that the roots are going deep into the spiritual soil of our soul because of our pressing in to God during our time of suffering. This is producing a work in our character that cannot be seen until it finishes the process. Such was the case for Joseph.

It was not until several years after such a time of suffering that I began to see the fruit of the trials that the Lord allowed me to experience. How grateful I am to understand some of the "why" that has led to a new life in Him that I would never have had without this period.

Samson had great anointing but lacked character. We see many today who have great anointing yet lack character. But God is rising up Josephs who not only have great anointing for these days but also great character. Suffering produces character.

If you find yourself in a time of suffering, now is the time to press into God. Let your roots grow deeper. Whenever there is a famine, tree roots are forced to drive deeper into the soil to find water. These times are designed to create such a deep-rooted faith that our natures will be changed forever.

HIGH IMPACT TEAMS

2009-02-21T21:36:00.002-05:00

Following is something I put together for a meeting of church leaders. However, the attributes of effective teams pointed out in this article and as put forth by the apostle Paul all apply to secular teams as well.

So, imagine yourself as Paul sitting in prison in Rome. Not exactly sure what’s going to happen to you … planning your appeal. You’re thinking back to a few years earlier when you’d spent three years and a couple of trips building a church of Christ followers in Ephesus. You’d followed God’s instruction as He carefully timed your visits to that city. Ephesus was a Greek city located in part of what we now call Turkey. You’d learned to love the people there. While you were there, you got embroiled in a dispute with the local silversmiths because they wanted to keep making little statues of Artemis and her temple. She was a goddess that the locals worshipped, the goddess of the forest and the hills, of virginity, fertility and childbirth. She carried around a bow and arrow. I’m not quite sure what role those played in childbirth but she had them. The locals liked her – those were all good things that they attributed to her. But God blessed your ministry, built up a team of believers … and now you’re in prison in Rome.

What do you do? You want to see God’s work continue to grow in Ephesus … you want to see the city continue to be transformed. You want to see all those silversmiths have to find a different line of work. You want to see them have to start making little silver Jesus statues that people put on the dashboards of their chariots. You remember the team you left behind there. These were people you’d baptized. They’d seen you heal people and cast out demons. But certainly they’d heard that you were now in prison. What were they going to do? Would they keep the faith? Would they keep things going?

You were the leader of their team … and now you’re miles and miles away in prison. Too far for them to visit regularly … no phone calls. All you can do is write them a letter … so what are you going to put in your letter? I mean, talk about a team in transition – this is the ultimate example of that! Paul really had to wonder what he could do to encourage these folks. What would you do in this situation? Well, undoubtedly you’re going to try to inspire your team … and you’re going to give them your best stuff about how they can work together to be an effective team. You’re going to pull out all the stops.

In this case, the letter Paul wrote was such an important one that it is called an “epistle” which means basically that it was meant to teach others – to provide instruction. Of course, we know it as the book of Ephesians. Let’s take a look at what Paul said, starting in Chapter 4 and see what advice he is giving them on how to work as a team. I’m using The Message translation.

1-3In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere.

What do you hear in there? Urgency and purposefulness – don’t sit around on your hands – get out there and make things happen! Paul is conveying to his team in Ephesus just how important what they’re doing is. Dan was telling me about a podcast that Andy Stanley has out on high performance teams and one of the big points Stanley makes is the importance of passion – the team has to be passionate about what they’re doing. And what causes passion? A clearly defined problem. In this case, Paul’s problem was that he knew that continuing to overtake Artemis and build a church of Jesus followers in Ephesus was an uphill battle. Their problem was that they could not lose momentum. They had to have passion … they had to have clear direction … and they had to keep moving … they had to make things happen. If they didn’t, no one else would! If they suddenly thought the problem was solved, then the team would fall apart and Artemis with her bow and arrow would win. Think about your team a bit – what is it that you’re really called to do? What will the ramifications be if you’re not successful? How do you keep that message continually in front of your team so that, even if like in Paul’s case, you’re locked up in jail, the good work goes on.

And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
Wow. What do we see in there? I see humility and discipline. The King James version says “with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” Seems to me he’s telling them that they need to be filled with the Fruits of the Spirit – those things Chuck talked about a couple of weeks ago. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. They needed to be filled with the Spirit and act from the Spirit. Paul is also saying that this whole thing they were trying to do was far bigger than any of them individually. As a result, they needed to keep the big picture focus and be willing to give their “selves” up a bit – be willing to pour themselves out for each other because building a church and defeating the chick with her bow and arrow was far bigger than any one of them individually. How do the members of your team need to support and encourage one another? What happens when they don’t? Things can sometimes go downhill pretty quickly when a team stops supporting each other.

4-6You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

This probably sounds pretty familiar to those of you who went through the Team Leadership class we had a couple of years ago because what Paul is talking about here is alignment. Spiritual alignment certainly but there are other types of alignment as well – philosophical, organizational, and methodological. Members of an effective team really need to be all on board with one another in these areas. In the podcast Dan was telling me about, Andy Stanley talks about how a team must all be around an agreed-upon solution to the pressing problem at hand. Teams must be willing to hear out each others thoughts on the subject and reach a point where you’re not all just going along with the actions of the team but they’re really committed to them. If your team is having issues with alignment, then re-visiting things like your Mission and the problem you’re solving can help to get everyone onto God’s agenda. Having that prayer cell going to undergird your ministry that we have talked about will also help to ensure and protect alignment. Sometimes with spiritual alignment, team members need to evaluate where they are on their individual faith journeys. A component of that is appropriate accountability which we will talk about in a bit. If your team is having issues with philosophical, organizational, or methodological alignment, some good healthy discussion within your team may be called for … a great resource for learning how to do that is some of the books written by Patrick Lencioni. He doesn’t let things be swept under the rug to fester but instead encourages teams to get things out in the open for healthy and productive discussion. In order to have those discussions, though, you must build trust within your team and that comes greatly as a result of spiritual alignment – all clearly being under one banner. This comes through open sharing and respect for the big picture – making sure that your team members are all off of their own individual agendas and onto God’s agenda.

7-13But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,

He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the booty,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.
Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

Okay, in his podcast, Andy Stanley calls this “clearly defined roles” and having a sense of interdependency between members of the team. Did you notice how Paul talked about this, though? He talks about how God climbed down and climbed back up … how He humbled Himself to reach out to us. Just like how we are called to humble ourselves to others when we work within the roles in which God has placed us. We give up ourselves to serve Him. Once all members of a team have done that, then they can begin to work together rhythmically and easily, efficient and graceful. The way Paul writes this is also kind of interesting because he isn’t really phrasing it to say that God simply gives some people the gift of being an apostle or a prophet or an evangelist or a pastor-teacher. No, He’s far more involved than that. Instead, as Paul points out, God actually sends our team individuals with each of those talents and skills to work within the body of Christ. God had your team planned way before you ever thought of it! He knew exactly who He was going to send to you to play those various roles. That’s a little humbling in and of itself, isn’t it?

There used to be a Quaker theologian by the name of Elton Trueblood. He died a few years back but, when he was in his mid 80s he spoke at my college graduation. I wish I would have paid attention to him because now I keep running across things he wrote. One of those, though, was that “The Reformation opened the Bible to the common man; a new Reformation will open up ministry to the common man.” When Paul talked about God sending our teams people specifically as evangelists and preachers and teachers and things, he wasn’t talking only about professional clergy … he was talking about you, about me, about all of our team members. He has roles for all of us to play and He’s brought us together specifically to live into those roles.
Another thing we talked about back in our Team Leadership class was about how, on a well functioning team, all members of the team are leaders really. How they all have particular roles to play, are interdependent on each other, and will all be leaders in their own way. God has sent your team the right people – part of your job is to make sure those roles are defined, and everyone is aware of them, so that your team works together harmoniously. Having problems with your team working together? Oftentimes that is because roles have not been clearly defined.

14-16No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

People who read my FaceBook page will probably say that I need to pay some serious attention to Paul’s admonition here to grow up but isn’t this great? “We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do.” Christ is the head of the body – He is who we all are to follow. This is Spiritual Alignment, yes, but I believe that a healthy part of this is appropriate accountability. We’re all on journeys here to follow Christ as the head of the body. We need to respect and appreciate that. And part of that is allowing ourselves to be mentored and held accountable in healthy ways. We have talked a lot about mentoring and discipling in the past. Being willing to really lay yourself humble to another and asking them to hold you accountable is a huge thing. But it is part of living the Spirit-filled life. Members of an effective and healthy team will have the trust and willingness for two-way sharing of their journeys … supporting and encouraging one another … no longer being babes in the woods but being mature Christians knowing the whole truth and telling it in love. Working together to grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

Wow … there’s so much in Ephesians 4 about healthy and high performing teams … I am sure I have barely touched on what all Paul was trying to convey but let’s summarize and look at the attributes of a high performance team that we have talked about.

1) Urgency and Purposefulness – A clearly defined problem. What captures and holds your team’s passion?
a. Able to hold a team together

2) Humility and Discipline – Pursuing the “big” picture instead of one’s own interests.

3) Alignment – Spiritual, Philosophical, Organizational and Methodological
a. Prayer Cell, Trust, Open Discussion

4) Clearly Defined Roles and Interdependency
a. Everyone is a leader
5) Healthy and Appropriate Accountability
a. Mentoring and Discipling
b. Personal Spiritual Journey Plan
c. Following Christ as the head of the Body

THE WEDGINATOR

2009-02-19T05:51:00.001-05:00

A new superhero has arrived on the scene in Salt Lake City -- the Wedginator.

Click here to learn more.

YOU, TOO, CAN HAVE FULLER EYELASHES

2009-02-16T11:36:00.001-05:00

For about $4 per day. Click here.

FIND OUR JOY IN GIVING GOD GLORY

2009-02-16T11:12:00.001-05:00

"Justify my soul, O God, but also from Your fountains fill my will with fire. Shine in my mind, although perhaps this means "be darkness to my experience," but occupy my heart with Your tremendous Life. Let my eyes see nothing in the world but Your glory, and let my hands touch nothing that is not for Your service. Let my tongue taste no bread that does not strengthen me to praise Your great mercy. I will hear Your voice, and I will hear all the harmonies you have created singing your hymns. Sheep's wool and cotton from the field shall warm me enough that I may live in Your service; I will give the rest to the poor. Let me use all things for one sole reason: to find my joy in giving You glory."

-- Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, 1961

OUR SILENCE WILL BE DEVASTATING

2009-02-06T05:51:00.003-05:00

Sorry I have been so silent lately. You may get an earfull today to try to make up for it. I regret my recent silence; now is not the time to be silent.

This economy thing we're in is way more serious than the now-in-development economic stimulus package gives it credit for being. This package, if not changed drastically (and, believe me, it won't be) is going to go down in history as one of the worst things to ever happen to our country.

President Obama is, during one of our toughest times ever, using fear to entirely mortgage or perhaps even give up on, our future in order to push his agenda with massive spending that is not going to have the desired positive economic impact.

The proposed bills from the Senate and House, by all expert analysis and accounts, have very little spending that is really geared toward fast economic stimulus -- something like less than 15% of the 800+ billion.

Do they not realize what kind of money $800 billion is? Do they not realize where much of that will have to come from -- foreign borrowing with massive tax hikes in the future in attempt to repay it? Oh yeah, wait a minute, they probably do understand all of that.

There are also three key things that truly do not seem to even be on their radar screen. They are:

1) Main Street is going to be devastated by this economy. Small and medium sized businesses all over are doing their best to hang in there but huge numbers of them are going to fall in coming months. While large businesses can attempt to survive by shifting numbers and laying people off, smaller businesses do not so much have that as an option. These businesses are just going to close. Look for shuttered businesses to be appearing soon in huge numbers in neighborhoods near you.

2) A huge banking crisis, perhaps even bigger than the mortgage crisis and certainly impacting some of the banks which have been pretty stable of late, will ensue as business loans and lines of credit go bad. And also as mortgages on the homes of Main Street business owners and their workers go bad. I do not know the numbers but this could very well eclipse what we have seen thus far in the banking crisis.

3) We talk about the current rapidly growing unemployment numbers but we also cannot ignore the fact that businesses simply are not and can not hire people right now. We will have a huge number of high school and college graduates hitting the streets in a few months, unable to find work. College loans will go unpaid and social infrastructure will be further stressed. We ain't seen nothin' yet.

Folks, I know this post is ugly. I know I sound pessimistic. I am telling you, though -- this is serious. We cannot support this economic stimulus package and, if you're being silent about it and not squawking to your congresspeople and everyone you run into, you are by your silence supporting something that, mark my words, will be devastating to our country.

$800 billion is a huge amount of money. The piper will have to be paid. We must not go down this road unless we have assurance that every penny will go for rapid economic stimulus.

And, even at that, it is questionable how effective it would be. Read this article on Japan.

This is going to be devastating, folks. Now is not the time to be silent.

$819 BILLION OF WHAT?

2009-01-29T16:36:00.002-05:00

Curious what all is in President Obama's economic stimulus plan passed by the House? According to the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, only 12 cents on the dollar is for economic stimulus. 12 cents. If this is true, it's outrageous.

Read more here.

THOMAS MERTON

2009-01-26T11:18:00.001-05:00

Though there is no use in placing our hopes on a totally utopian new world in which everyone is sublimely merciful, we are obliged as Christians to seek some way of giving the mercy and compassion of Christ a social, even a political, dimension. The eschatological function of mercy, we repeat, is to prepare the Christian transformation of the world, and to usher in the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is manifestly "not of this world" (all forms of millennial and messianic Christianity to the contrary), but it demands to be typified and prepared by such forms of heroic social witness that makes Christian mercy plain and evident in the world....

Christian mercy must discover, in faith, in the Spirit, a power strong enough to initiate the transformation of the world into a realm of understanding, unity and relative peace, where [humankind], nations and societies are willing to make the enormous sacrifices required if they are to communicate intelligibly with one another, understand one another, cooperate with one another in feeding the hungry millions and in building a world of peace. -- Thomas Merton

ECONOMIC STIMULUS?

2009-01-26T10:04:00.002-05:00

Check out this article from the Holy Coast about contraceptives and the economic stimulus plan.

ECONOMY

2009-01-26T05:42:00.002-05:00

If anyone watches my Facebook page, you probably noticed my lament last week that I was spending a lot of time with suppliers and competitors and I was getting tired of hearing them complain about business being slow. That is very true. It was a tough week. I heard lost of stories of business being way, way down. Many companies, to try to compensate, are having lay-offs or else paycuts and work week reductions. No one was overly optimistic. It was difficult to listen to because it was incredibly depressing. Things are tough out there.

One "surprise" issue we're running into is that, with the slowdown, many of our suppliers have cut their capabilities, impacting our ability yo obtain raw materials in a timely manner.

Any business leader, right now, should be dropping as many responsibilities as they can to free up their time to just focus on pulling out of this situation -- looking for any way possible to increase sales and maintain profitability levels.

I did hear a rather well known private sector economist speak last week. He provided a great historical perspective for the current situation as well as an explanation of how we got to where we are. While I would have guessed that an economist would have provided lots of numbers to explain the situation, he really does see a strong emotional or human side to this recession. He does indeed see it as being driven, perpetuated, and fueled by the media. While I have heard many armchair economists say such things, it was interesting to hear him say it.

He feels we're not quite mid-way through this thing. And, what scares him more than anything is the prospect of deflating -- rapidly dropping prices. While he is not seeing deflation yet, he explained that deflation is one thing that no one really knows how to fix.

I guess that, from my perspective, I am seeing some dropping prices but not a situation where consumer goods are dropping week after week after week. However, it would concern me greatly that, because of the amount of importing we do as a nation, we could very well see such a situation develop.

Switching gears a bit ... the big thing in the news now seems to be the possible nationalization of our banks. As someone who has experienced working with banks that, for many months now, have been under close scrutiny and control by the feds, I can tell you that, while I do not necessarily have a better answer, nationalization of the banks scares me to death. It will, I am afraid, create a situation where banking decisions are made largely on ratios and perhaps a few policies inspired by legislative numb skulls. Taking the human side out of banking will slow down business growth and expansion in ways we cannot even fathom. That is my concern at least. Again, though, no better answers.

Have a good week!

BOOK REVIEW: "IT"

2009-01-26T05:26:00.002-05:00

No, this is not about Stephen King's "It" but rather about about a fairly new book by Craig Groeschel, founder of LifeChurch.tv. People who read my reviews would probably walk away convinced that I never read a book I didn't like. And, to some degree, that is true. because, when I come across a book I don't like, I usually do not complete it so I never review it.

Groeschel's "It" focuses on the difficult-to-define thing that some churches just seem to have while others do not have it. "It," as he calls it, is something you cannot clearly illuminate but he does a great job of posing key questions to help a church define whether it has "it," how it might get "it," and how a church can lose "it."

One thing that became very clear as I read this book, though, was that "it" applies to much more than just churches. If you run or lead any sort of organization, business, or ministry, this book will be full of thought-provoking moments for you ... moments that will cause you to think and scratch your head, and go back and make some changes in the way you do things.

I highly recommend this book for any leader. It is also a very fun book to read, with my sidebars and stories as well as Groeschel's trademark sense of humor.

METAL CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATION

2009-01-24T16:05:00.002-05:00

For the past dozen or so years, I have had the privilege of being involved with the Metal Construction Association, an organization which just celebrated its 25th anniversary with a gala dinner last week. I have served on its board since 1999.

It was really neat to spend some time reflecting on what all MCA has accomplished over the years, thanks to a visionary few. We have shaped and built an industry that employs thousands and provides environmentally friendly building materials. It is a group that respects and values relationships over all else, allowing us to accomplish things that less cooperative industries could never accomplish. It is a pleasure to be involved with MCA.

Following is the invocation which I had the privilege of giving at our anniversary dinner.

I stand up here this evening as a very privileged man to be able to deliver the invocation on such a night of celebration.

Please join with me in prayer …

Dear most gracious and heavenly Father,

We are here tonight as a celebration point. As an industry, we thank you for 25 years of being able to serve. 25 years of using the resources, ingenuity and wisdom that you have given us for the purpose of building a better world and providing worthwhile and meaningful employment to tens of thousands. In all of that, we celebrate what a privilege it is to be a part of your plan for this world.

But please, Lord, do not allow us to be an industry nor individuals who rest on our laurels. Provide us with direction and encouragement to always push ahead … to always strive for advancements and changes that better this world, that advance the people in it, and that honor you. Help us to remain steadfast in our determination to continually protect the planet and world with which you have richly blessed us.

Lord, we know that these are troubled and turbulent times. But we also know that you are the one we can turn to most in leading us through these times. In Jeremiah, you assure us that you have plans to prosper us. May we, during these times, be an organization that continues to step boldly forward not as an organization of fear but as an organization living in your promise and discovering prosperity, in whatever form that might be, even in these difficult times.

While we honor and give thanks for the heritage of leaders who went before them, we pray for our new leadership both of the United States and of Metal Construction Association. Please watch closely over the new presidents of both our country and our organization. May they know your strength and your presence as decisions are made and directions are taken which forever change history.

Be with us this evening. Bless the food we’re about to eat. May this be an evening of celebration, an evening of memories, and, most importantly, an evening of looking ahead and beginning to live into our next 25 years and beyond.

In Jesus’ name we most humbly pray,

Amen

BUSH GIRLS TO THE OBAMA GIRLS

2009-01-24T12:10:00.002-05:00

Check out this post and accompanying video about the letter the Bush twins wrote to the Obama girls. Very neat. Click Here.

II CORINTHIANS 12 (MSG)

2009-01-16T06:03:00.002-05:00

This chaper has tremendous implications on our own call to pursue the Great Commission. Paul went to places where he wasn't likely to be well received. That is where he was called to and where he needed to be. He had to work hard to justify himself and his presence. And, finally, he used the stories that God had built into his life as ways to show others that he struggles in this world the same as they do, but that God has a better plan for us all -- the plan of grace, mercy and forgiveness.

Good stuff. As always when I look at scripture, click on the headline of this post in order to read the referenced passage.

II CORINTHIANS 11

2009-01-15T06:01:00.002-05:00

I think this is a fascinating chapter but it is perhaps very easy to overlook as just Paul talking about himself.

Paul constantly risked his life. He traveled far. He was determined to spread the news of the world's savior. He took the Great Commission seriously.

At the same time, apparently, many false teachers were also traveling about, claiming to be prophets and to know the truth and yet largely there to just dupe money from the people. I think of what we might call a "snake oil" salesman from the late 1800s and early 1900s. "You have an ill? I have the pill? Any problem you have, I can sell you something to fix it." Lots of those guys still around, usually on late night infomercials.

But Paul spoke in truth ... and what could He do to make sure that He stood out from the rest? Well, He needed to tell them about himself ... tell people about all that He had endured and all that He was willing to endure because He knew the truth and had to speak the truth.

But this chapter also show why Paul did this ... because he loved the people he was talking to. He took seriously Jesus' commandment to love one another. And, out of love, he had to tell them how to have eternal life with the Father.

Here's what strikes me about this ... Paul's behavior is exactly what we should also be doing today ... out of our love for them, telling others about God's love for them, His sacrifice for them, and His desire for intimacy with them.

It makes me wonder ... when I do share with others, is it out of love ... or out of just feeling like it is what I am supposed to do. Doing it out of love undoubtedly makes a huge difference.

ANOTHER CAMPAIGN PROMISE BITES THE DUST

2009-01-13T05:18:00.002-05:00

While he was in campaigning mode, Barack Obama made a big deal about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He promised swift action after he took office to get them released. In fact, as I recall, that was even on his first 100 days list.

People in the know about the detainees said it would not be possible ... that it is a difficult situation ... that many of the detainees are pretty scary and dangerous people.

Wow, over the weekend, one of Obama's staff members said that there's no way that the Gitmo folk will be one of Obama's first 100 day initiatives. These are scary, dangerous people, the staffer said -- much work has to be done yet on that situation.

So, another promise that helped get Obama elected bites the dust.

I, on the other hand, continue to be pretty pleased with the guy.

Is anyone out there who supported Obama upset to see his campaign promises fall to the ground like crumpled waste paper? I would be.

HE SAID WHAT?

2009-01-09T18:50:00.001-05:00

CNN HEADLINE: "Governor Says Impeachment Vote Is Politically Driven"

And water is wet.

SAW THIS COMING

2009-01-09T11:58:00.003-05:00

So, at least two of the major components of Obama's pre-election economic plan appear to soon be gone with the wind.

1) The silly idea of a meaningless $3000 tax credit for companies that hire new workers.
2) Repealing the Bush tax cuts for upper income folks.

Obama's party and his cadre all seem to be in agreement now that these would not be good things to do.

So, let me ask you this ... if a simple business guy from Sidney Ohio knew back in October that these were not smart moves, are we really to think that these guys didn't know it back then, too?

Of course they knew it! But they also knew what they had to say in order to get elected. And so that is what they said.

THE ECONOMY

2009-01-08T16:43:00.001-05:00

There is some great discussion going on over at my friend Trey Morgan's blog about the economy. I'd encourage you to check it out.

COTTAGE INDUSTRIES

2009-01-07T07:37:00.002-05:00

The recent economic downturn is spawning a variety of cottage industries -- people forced out of the workplace and now starting their own businesses out of their homes. Childcare, auto repair, remodeling, repping and distribution of various products ... you name it ... it is happening.

I applaud folks who are taking this as an opportunity to do their own thing. I think that is wonderful. Over the years, I have advised many people who were starting new businesses.

But we need to realize a couple of things:

1) Cottage industries, operating with lower overhead, do displace workers from traditional workplaces, exacerbating the current high unemployment levels. Most people, when starting a business and working for themselves, will have the ability to do the work of two, three, or even four people in the traditional workplace.
2) Many times these entrepreneurs do not have the skills or knowledge to take their businesses to the next level when the economy does improve.

I am not saying that either of these is "bad". They are just realities. I am all for entrepreneurism. However, these are just things that we need to be aware of and, in my opinion, states need to be aware of and plan for. For one thing, providing low cost business training to these new entrepreneurs would be a great place to start so that at least some of them will be prepared to build bigger businesses down the road.

DIABETES UPDATE

2009-01-07T07:32:00.002-05:00

I am doing much better. My vision is not 100% but much much better and headaches are not as severe nor as frequent.

My blood sugar number is generally staying in a very good range and I am learning to recognize signs from my body if it is creeping low or high.

Last night I dreamt about chocolate though ... and I miss breads and pasta, too. Have had just a teeny bit of pasta, I think one very small chocolate, and nothing that resembled a true sandwich in the 4+ weeks since I was diagnosed.

The weight is not coming off as I'd hoped. This may be partly because of building some muscle through exercise but overall I am thinking I am either not doing enough of something or eating too much of something else. I am probably eating too much protein for one thing. Need to get the weight off. I have lost about 15 pounds but most of that was lost before I was even diagnosed, due to my cells being starved of sugar.

That's all I got.

II CORINTHIANS 10

2009-01-07T05:49:00.002-05:00

This chapter gives some insight to Paul. While he was a prolific and powerful author, apparently he was not so impressive in person. Rather than try to defend what he is in person, Paul simply says that he is the same whether he is in person or writing from afar. He boasts not in himself but in what God does and he shows honor for being a part of God's work and plan.

This chapter to me says a lot about what it takes to build relationships Paul could have gotten very defensive but instead he just stated facts. He did not deny that perhaps he is more forceful in writing than in person. He aludes that perhaps that is what is required of capturing their attention but once he has their attention, he can turn to a quieter way of talking to them in person.

I think there are some good lessons here for me in terms of working with others and building relationships.

DOES STRICKLAND NEED REMEDIAL MATH?

2009-01-07T05:33:00.003-05:00

Proving to me once again that he hasn't got a clue about how to bring jobs to Ohio, Gov. Strickland vetoed a bill that would have provided filmmakers with a tax break to come make their films in Ohio. It would have brought an estimated 1500 new jobs to the Cleveland area alone and Strickland vetoed it as being too costly.

Remedial math lesson: Gov. Strickland, there are currently very few films ever being made in Ohio. You can keep your taxes on them through the action of your veto pen but something of nothing is still nothing!

He had an opportunity to encourage what has historically been a relatively recession-resistant industry to bring potentially thousands of new jobs, most likely focused on some of our larger cities and more suffering areas, to the state and he says "NO"! ?! I am thinking he is either devoid of math or logic skills or else he simply doesn't care about bringing jobs to Ohio. Sadly, I am beginning to think it is the latter.

GAZA ATTACK

2009-01-04T08:10:00.003-05:00

Again, something I stole from someone else but here is a link to a video taken in Gaza after a New Year's Day Israeli bomb attack. This is sickening stuff. Yes, it is "eye for an eye" retribution. The missile strikes into Israel have resulted in similar videos. And it's not just that some of the folks caught up in this violence may be people I met or saw when I was in Israel a couple of years ago. This is horrible stuff. Humanity at some of its worst.

You can link these events to prophecy if you wish but it's hard to see God in this. I know that someday He will show up big time over there ... I am praying that it is soon ... and that He shows up in the hearts of those on both sides who believe that violence is the answer.

The thing I must ask myself is what role do I play in this? What role do any of us sitting comfortably in our armchairs play in this? God could show up all on his own but it is mostly He will show up through the actions of those who are following hard after Him ... and they will impact the world.

BONO ON THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

2009-01-04T07:43:00.001-05:00

I confess. I stole this from another blogger. However, I post it here not because it was Bono who said it but because these are good words to hear.

"I remember coming back from a very long tour.... On Christmas Eve I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. ...It had dawned on me before, but it really sank in: the Christmas story. The idea that God, if there is a force of Love and Logic in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty... a child, I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry. Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and ...tears came down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this. Because that’s exactly what we were talking about earlier: love needs to find form, intimacy needs to be whispered. To me, it makes sense. It’s actually logical. It’s pure logic. Essence has to manifest itself. It’s inevitable. Love has to become an action or something concrete. It would have to happen. There must be an incarnation. Love must be made flesh." - Bono

SLAVERY

2009-01-04T07:39:00.002-05:00

Click Here to read a very real story detailing the depravity and tragedy of human trafficking in our world. Please note that the story is very graphic.